Carney pushes idea of making Canada an ‘associate member’ of the EU: reports

The PM has spoken to leaders including France’s Macron about letting Canadians work ‌visa-free in the EU, The Wall Street Journal reported

Canada’s Prime ⁠Minister Mark Carney wants a closer ⁠relationship with the European Union and is ⁠exploring whether his country could become an “associate member” of the bloc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The EU, which has not been flexible about membership rules in the past, is open to the idea of granting Canada a yet-to-be-created status of associate membership, ‌the newspaper reported, citing unnamed officials both from the EU and Canada.

Canada’s embassy in Brussels and spokespeople at the European Commission did not respond to separate requests for comment.

Canada’s escalating trade war with the United States has added urgency to its strategic pivot towards other trading partners.

Relations between Ottawa and Washington have deteriorated sharply since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year due to disagreements over ⁠trade and other issues. The trade dispute has led to tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border ‌trade.

Canada and the EU are discussing ways of allowing Canada’s goods, services and workers involved in strategic supply chains such as energy, AI, defence and critical minerals to ‌move freely, thus effectively shifting the EU border, the Wall Street Journal said.

Canada and the EU ⁠are also talking about ⁠laying underwater cables, jointly constructing data centres, cloud storage and new satellite networks as well as infrastructure to ship Canadian energy to the ‌EU, the newspaper said.