Trump threatens ‘heavy tariffs’ if proposal advances
Germany’s government called on the European Union on Thursday to reconsider the “associate member” label European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had proposed for Canada a day earlier in the European Parliament, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson saying Germany was “open to discussing new models that reflect the special significance of the relationship” but calling for the “associate membership” label to be “reconsidered.”
Merz himself had previously floated “associate membership” for Ukraine as a stepping stone to joining the bloc, an idea other member states quickly dismissed.
US President Donald Trump responded to von der Leyen’s proposal by threatening Europe with “heavy tariffs” if it became a reality. In a video clip, Trump called the EU’s offer of associate membership to Canada “laughable.”
But the prospect of Canada’s associate membership is uncertain because no one is sure what it means. “I’m not quite sure why she [von der Leyen] used that term because there’s simply no legal definition,” said one senior politician quoted by The Guardian. “This has just raised lots of questions. So people are talking more about what an associate membership means instead of … this unique partnership and alliance for the future that EU-Canada relations should be about.”
EU diplomats in Brussels echoed the doubts. One said von der Leyen “seemed a bit far out in floating this” and that even before Wednesday’s speech, member states had worried she was overpromising on Canada. A second diplomat called it “an empty phrase” and said it would be up to member states to define the substance.
Any new trading and cooperation relationship with a foreign country would need to be approved by the EU’s 27 member states.
In the European Parliament’s Strasbourg debating chamber on Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney received a rapturous reception as he welcomed the proposal. Politicians queued to shake his hand and take selfies. One MEP leader described the speech as a historic moment. “Europe has extended a hand, and Canada has taken it,” said the German Green MEP Terry Reintke, who borrowed a Canadian ice hockey shirt for the occasion.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola appeared alongside Carney and von der Leyen in Strasbourg, according to a Reuters photograph by Yves Herman.
Both sides identified areas of likely agreement. Carney said Canada and the EU share interests in deepening cooperation on artificial intelligence, energy security, critical raw materials, quantum computing, and working together in the Arctic, where he noted Canada shares an Arctic border with Denmark, referring to the maritime border with Greenland.
Carney described the 2016 Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as “one of the world’s most successful trade agreements,” but ten EU member states, including France, Italy, and Poland, have yet to ratify it. With all three countries heading into an election year, ratification looks unlikely to change.
Trade policy moved in opposite directions over the past year. Canada introduced a “buy Canadian” policy to give Canadian suppliers priority in public contracts. The EU is debating the Industrial Accelerator Act, a “buy European” measure that would oblige member states to meet “made in Europe” content requirements when spending public money on green technologies and electric cars.
Carney proposed “seamless digital trade in non-agricultural goods and a wide range of services,” but the EU has long insisted that the four freedoms of its internal market — free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital — are one package that cannot be split and require alignment with EU rules.
“Now the applause has died down, there are plenty of tricky issues to work out, even for the closest of allies,” The Guardian reported.