Trump called commission president von der Leyen’s unprecedented overture towards Ottawa “laughable” on Wednesday, telling reporters he could impose “very serious tariffs” or “stop trading with Europe” should the plan go ahead.
“As our president made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” commission trade spokesman Olof Gill said when asked about Trump’s remarks.
Von der Leyen floated the idea of “associated” membership for Canada as she gave a major speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in attendance.
Carney, who has been pursuing closer ties with the European Union as Ottawa gets drawn ever deeper into a trade war with the United States, will give his own address to EU lawmakers on Thursday morning.
His visit is meant to act as a catalyst ahead of an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month.
Under EU rules, member states have to approve any form of partnership with a third country, and it was unclear how much support von der Leyen’s proposal would receive from capitals.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that Paris was in favour of “creating ever-closer ties with Canada” but that the plan would be “debated, scrutinised and analysed” before France took a definitive position.
Brussels and Ottawa already enjoy a considerable level of cooperation.
Their comprehensive economic and trade agreement that abolished almost all tariffs has been credited with boosting trade in goods and services by more than 80 percent since 2016.
And this year Canada became the first non-EU country to join a flagship defence loan programme. (AFP)
