The EU is looking to pull Canada closer into its economic and security orbit as Donald Trump’s trade war forces Ottawa to seek allies beyond the U.S. The offer under discussion spans critical minerals, digital trade, education, skilled workers and Arctic security. With Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney due to address the European Parliament this week and an EU-Canada summit set for October in Montreal, EU officials are weighing what Ursula von der Leyen can concretely offer in her State of the Union speech on Wednesday.
The aim is to deepen cooperation wherever it benefits both sides — and give Carney a way to show Canadians that Ottawa has powerful friends beyond Washington, 15 officials, politicians and diplomats told POLITICO. The most ambitious proposals would bring Canada closer to the EU’s single market, expanding its existing trade ties with the bloc and moving it toward the level of integration enjoyed by nations such as Switzerland and Norway. Spanish Socialist lawmaker Javier Moreno, who chairs the Parliament’s delegation to Canada, called for the EU to integrate the country “even further” than Switzerland into its market.
That could include giving Canadian citizens the freedom to live and work across the 27-country bloc and Canadian businesses smoother access to its 450 million consumers. Such an arrangement would be unprecedented for a country so geographically distant. The push for closer ties comes after the U.S. banned imports of key Canadian manufacturing and agricultural goods, as the North American neighbors spiraled into a trade war with reciprocal tariffs after the collapse of negotiations last month.
They were granted anonymity to speak about the proposals under discussion, like others in this article. That Carney will be seated in the chamber to hear von der Leyen’s address carries symbolic weight and “is already an important signal of the closeness of the relationship,” Geneviève Tuts, the EU’s ambassador to Canada, told POLITICO. The Canadian prime minister has instructed his special envoy to Europe, John Hannaford, to scope out the most ambitious possibilities short of full membership in the bloc or its single market, one official confirmed.
The EU has a growing appetite for critical raw materials — used in everything from batteries and solar panels to mobile phones. Canada has abundant reserves of copper, molybdenum, aluminum, nickel, lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements, as well as the mines, smelters and refineries capable of processing them. Can we gather enough investment and funding for some of these projects?” That is a position shared by the lawmakers Carney will address next week.
Valérie Hayer, a French MEP and chair of the centrist Renew group, said that “as Canada and Europe both look to diversify, this is the moment to intensify mutual trade. This requires fresh thinking and joint investment in infrastructure.” One relatively straightforward step would be to bring Canada further into Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship education and training program, which is already open to countries including Iceland, the U.K. and Norway. Nela Riehl, chair of the Parliament’s Culture Committee, told POLITICO she expects von der Leyen to fully integrate Canada into the scheme.
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