Carney: Canada Seeks 'Unique Alliance' With EU, Not Membership, as U.S. Trade Fight Raises Stakes

BRUSSELS, Sept 13 (Reuters) — Canada is seeking a "unique alliance" with the European Union rather than membership in the bloc, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Ottawa was exploring whether Canada could become an "associate member" of the EU.

The EU, which has historically been rigid on membership rules, is open to granting Canada a yet-to-be-created status of associate membership, the Journal reported, citing unnamed officials from both Brussels and Ottawa.

Speaking to reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival, Carney rejected the idea that Canada wanted to join the 27-nation bloc. "We're not looking to become a member of the European Union," he said. "What we are looking for — and will begin discussions for — is a unique alliance between Canada and the European Union. We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths."

Carney's office confirmed Saturday that he will travel to France and Britain next week. He is set to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg and attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the European Union address.

The Globe and Mail reported separately that it was the EU, not Carney, that floated the associate membership title. An anonymous source told the newspaper that any discussion of a formal title for the relationship is premature. Spokespeople at the European Commission did not respond to requests for comment.

The outreach comes at a delicate moment for Canada, whose escalating trade war with the United States has added urgency to its strategic pivot toward other trading partners. Relations between Ottawa and Washington have deteriorated sharply since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, with disputes over trade and other issues leading to tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border commerce.

Trump renewed his criticism on Sunday, calling Canada "the worst country to deal with" but adding that he believed the country was "dying to make a deal." "They've ripped off our country for years," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. The president also reiterated his intention to impose new tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts from Canada beginning Jan. 1.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Canada and the EU are discussing ways to let Canadian goods, services and workers tied to strategic supply chains — including energy, artificial intelligence, defense and critical minerals — move freely, effectively shifting the EU's border outward. The two sides are also talking about laying undersea cables, jointly building data centers, cloud storage and new satellite networks, and developing infrastructure to ship Canadian energy to Europe.

Carney has spoken regularly with several EU leaders, most notably French President Emmanuel Macron, about the possibility of allowing Canadians to live and work visa-free in the EU, the Journal reported, citing two unnamed officials familiar with the matter. Macron's press office did not respond to a request for comment. His office separately confirmed that Macron will meet Carney on Sept. 20 in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French archipelago off Canada's Atlantic coast.

Any push for closer Canada-EU ties is likely to face hurdles. The two sides already have the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA, which was struck more than a decade ago and has provisionally applied for nine years, yet several EU countries still have not ratified it. That record underscores the political difficulty of winning approval for deeper institutional links across the bloc.

For Canada, the discussions reflect a search for new markets and allies as its relationship with Washington remains volatile. For the EU, closer cooperation could help secure energy, critical minerals and technology supply chains. But any new status for Canada would require careful negotiation and could ruffle member states wary of expanding the bloc's institutional arrangements without full membership.

Reporting by Inti Landauro; additional reporting by Michel Rose, Gus Trompiz, Pete Schroeder and Caroline Stauffer; editing by Christina Fincher, Joe Bavier and Stephen Coates.