OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is pushing to make Canada an “associate member” of the European Union as his government looks for further integration with Europe. The proposal was first reported Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, which said Carney has been discussing a new relationship with European leaders that could allow Canada deeper access to the EU's $21-trillion single market. Associate membership does not currently exist as a formal EU category and would have to be created.According to the Journal, Canadian and European officials have discussed reducing barriers to the movement of goods, services and workers in strategic industries, including defence, energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.The discussions have also included joint infrastructure projects, including undersea cables, data centres and satellite networks. Carney has discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron the possibility of allowing Canadians to live and work in Europe more easily, according to the report. Carney's push comes as Canada attempts to reduce its reliance on the United States following the breakdown of trade negotiations with President Donald Trump's administration and a series of new tariffs..More than 70% of Canadian exports still go to the United States, leaving Ottawa looking for new markets as the trade dispute continues. citeturn0news45The move would build on Canada's existing Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the EU, which has provisionally eliminated most tariffs between the two markets but has still not been fully ratified by every EU member state.The proposal would stop short of full EU membership, something Carney has previously said he is not pursuing.It follows a series of moves by the Carney government to bring Canada closer to Europe on trade and defence.Canada and the EU signed a Security and Defence Partnership in June 2025 and Ottawa has since secured participation in the EU's Security Action for Europe, known as SAFE, making Canada the first non-European country able to participate in the defence financing program. The European push was on display again last week in Poland, where Canada led one of Europe's largest defence exhibitions.As previously reported by the Western Standard, Canadian defence exports to Europe are up 56%.International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said during the Polish mission that expanding Canada's defence industry would help “diversify our trade” while creating jobs at home.Canada brought nearly 500 delegates and more than 200 organizations to the International Defence Industry Exhibition in Kielce, the largest defence and security business mission Canada has sent abroad.The government has also been expanding its defence relationship with Ukraine. Carney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a “Hundred Year Partnership” in Alberta last week covering defence, trade, reconstruction, energy and critical minerals..The push toward Europe comes as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continues to argue that Canada's first priority should be restoring tariff-free trade with the United States.During a visit to New York last week, Poilievre told CNBC Canada should continue diversifying its overseas trade, but rejected the idea that those relationships could replace Canada's economic relationship with the United States.“I think what needs to happen next is we need to get back to tariff-free trade in both directions,” Poilievre said.“Canada is beginning to further diversify its trade to overseas markets. And that is going to be necessary now, regardless of what the administration does.”The Journal reported European officials are open to discussing Carney's proposal, but significant hurdles remain, including concerns about creating preferential arrangements for Canada that are unavailable to former EU member Britain. Canada's existing trade agreement with Europe also remains only provisionally applied years after it was signed, underscoring the political difficulty of building a substantially deeper economic relationship with the 27-member bloc.Carney is set to travel to Strasbourg and Liverpool from September 15 to 17. In Strasbourg, Carney will address the European parliament, and during his Liverpool trip he will meet with the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. A day before Parliament rises for the fall session, Carney will visit Saint-Pierre et-Miquelon, France to meet with the French President Macron on September 20.
