Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the European Parliament on Sept. 17 that Canada “welcomes” the European Union’s proposal to make it the bloc’s first “associate member,” as he outlined a broader vision for a transatlantic alliance between Ottawa and Brussels.
He spoke in Strasbourg one day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the idea in her State of the Union address.
His remarks came hours after President Donald Trump dismissed the proposal as “laughable” and warned that Europe could face “very heavy tariffs” if he considered the initiative a “hostile act.”
An ‘Alliance for the Future’
With Carney sitting in the front row during her Sept. 16 address, von der Leyen said the EU needed to “urgently reimagine” its partnerships in response to “the fracture in the international rules-based system.” …