Macron and Carney pledge closer France-Canada ties at Saint-Pierre meeting

France backs Canada’s bid to become EU’s first associate member

French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met Sunday in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a French archipelago off Newfoundland, where they announced plans to deepen cooperation across space, climate, and energy sectors. The visit was the first by a French president to the territory since 2014 and the first ever by a Canadian prime minister.

Carney outlined what he described as the shared threats facing both countries. “Our societies are being shaken by new storms: the upheavals, caused by climate change, the erosion of democratic norms, and new threats to our sovereignty,” he said. “The time has come to strengthen our ties.”

Macron listed the principles he said united the two countries. “We both believe in democracy, the rule of law, respect for international law, respect for free and fair trade, science as the basis for our decisions, and the strategic autonomy that we defend,” the French president said.

The meeting came weeks after Trump shared a social media image showing the US flag draped over a map that included the United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and other French Caribbean territories, labeled “United States of America.”

Asked about Trump’s post, Macron dismissed any suggestion that the territories’ French status was in question. He said he did not need to reaffirm the point every day just because “people have strange ideas or say strange things.”

For France, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon holds strategic value due to its position near the United States and the Arctic. The territory also occupies a key place in France’s cooperation with Canada, particularly on energy.

Macron, whose government is facing increased pressure at home over rising fuel prices, said the talks had opened the door for bilateral discussions aimed at sealing concrete energy deals. Paris hopes Canada will broaden its exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe rather than primarily to Asia, he said. “Canadian liquefied natural gas projects can help. They are important for Europe,” Macron said.

The two leaders also discussed Canada’s relationship with the EU after the bloc proposed that Ottawa become its first associate member — a step Macron said France backed. The proposal prompted a response from Trump, who threatened the EU with “serious tariffs” and a halt to trade and derided the idea as “laughable.”

Any move toward deeper Canada-EU integration is likely to face hurdles. More than a decade after the EU and Canada agreed to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, and nine years after its provisional application began, several EU member states have yet to ratify the accord, including France.

Macron was en route to the UN General Assembly when he stopped in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, diplomats said, adding that the visit carried symbolic weight following Trump’s social media post.