OTTAWA, Canada: Prime Minister Mark Carney is exploring a Canada-EU associate membership arrangement as his government seeks closer economic ties with Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The European Union is also open to discussing a new associate status for Canada, the newspaper said. It cited unnamed Canadian and EU officials.
Canada’s embassy in Brussels and the European Commission did not respond to requests for comment. The discussions come as trade tensions between Canada and the United States push Ottawa to diversify its economic relationships.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Canada and the EU are examining ways to ease movement of goods, services and workers in strategic sectors. Those sectors include energy, artificial intelligence, defence and critical minerals.
The two sides are also discussing joint infrastructure. Proposed areas include underwater cables, data centres, cloud storage, satellite networks and facilities for shipping Canadian energy to Europe.
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Carney has also discussed possible visa-free living and working arrangements for Canadians with several European leaders, the newspaper reported, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
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Macron’s office confirmed that he will meet Carney on September 20 in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French territory off Canada’s Atlantic coast.
Any broader integration plan could face political hurdles. Reuters noted that several EU countries still have not ratified the existing Canada-EU trade agreement, despite its provisional application beginning nine years ago.
