Every September, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presents her priorities, axes, and main policies for the upcoming political year in a State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which this year she will deliver on the 16th. A key moment in European politics that will feature a very symbolic strategic guest this time, amidst great international uncertainty: Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney.
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Although the invitation had been extended before the summer, as a Commission spokesperson confirmed to EL PAÍS after the newspaper Politico broke the news, the timing could not be more interesting: the Prime Minister has just thrown down the gauntlet to US President Donald Trump by decreeing tariffs on US steel and other products starting next month. Canada is thus responding to the new levies ordered by Washington against the country, after negotiations failed in which the United States imposed conditions that Carney denounced on Saturday as “unfair” and “anti-economic.” A new tariff war that Brussels, which is trying to maintain its own agreement with Washington without incident, is following closely but without making much noise, at least for the moment.
“As we have made clear on several occasions, we oppose tariffs, as these are taxes that ultimately fall on importers and consumers,” replied Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho the day before, when asked by the press about the new North American tariff dispute. “Both the United States and Canada are important trading partners for the European Union and, of course, we continue to work closely with both, with the aim of maintaining stability and predictability in both transatlantic and global trade,” she added.
More explicit in recent days has been the chairman of the Trade Committee in the European Parliament, Bernd Lange: “Trade agreements must be negotiated on equal terms between partners and not be unilaterally imposed through pressure or blackmail by a stronger partner, which is precisely what the US government is trying to do now, once again, with Canada,” said the German social democrat after Carney’s announcement that he rejected the new US tariffs. “We stand with Canada,” added the MEP on social media, who at the beginning of the year pushed for the suspension in the European Parliament of the ratification process of the Turnberry agreement between the Commission and Washington after Trump’s threats regarding Greenland.
It was precisely the US government’s eagerness to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish island that generated the first wave of open European admiration for Carney. The Canadian Prime Minister delivered a key speech at the Davos Economic Forum on the need for “middle powers” to ally to present a stronger common front against abusive powers like the one Trump has turned the US into. A few weeks later, Europe dealt a serious blow to Washington by refusing to follow it into the war it started in the Middle East when it attacked Iran, without warning its allies across the Atlantic, a conflict with no signs of resolution yet and for which the Old Continent is paying a high price due to rising fuel prices.
The EU is one of Canada’s natural allies, with whom it has also presented a common front against Trump’s attacks in NATO. The Commission merely indicates that the invitation to Carney for Von der Leyen’s speech is further proof of the “intention and ambition” of both parties to “strengthen” ties, especially in the face of an increasingly unpredictable global order.
“The important thing now is for democracies to stand together. Both politically and economically, we must make the most of every opportunity to ensure that the rule of law prevails, and not the law of the strongest,” Lange ratified on social media.
The invitation to Strasbourg is not the only sign of efforts to get closer to Canada: at the end of October, the North American country will host a new EU-Canada summit, the second in which Carney participates. In June, the two regions strengthened their ties when Canada became the first non-European country whose companies can participate in the common European fund SAFE (Security Action for Europe) for countries that “invest in industrial defense production” through joint purchases and which is endowed with 150 billion euros.
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