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It’s now official that Canada is one step closer to becoming quasi-European.
And, as U.S. President Donald Trump says Canada’s flirtations with Europe over possible associate membership are “laughable,” Prime Minister Mark Carney was laughing it up with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at an FA Cup soccer game in England.
And then, he went to the European Parliament in France and revealed the worst-kept secret in the world – Canada is seeking a potential associate membership in the European Union.
“I want to be precise about what I am not proposing,” Carney said in an address in the EU parliament in Strasbourg, France, Thursday. “I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners.”
In not-so-veiled language aimed at Trump, Carney said, “We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals.”
“We hold common values, for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant.”
The prime minister also said, “Canadians are united that nobody is going to tell us what language we speak, no one is going to dictate our culture, or with whom we can strike agreements internationally.”
Canada and the EU are natural partners, united by shared values.
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) September 16, 2026
With President von der Leyen and President Metsola, we focused on what comes next: a deeper partnership that reinforces our mutual sovereignty to create more opportunities and prosperity for our peoples. pic.twitter.com/GdOq5t7mGf
More shots at Trump
Taking more verbal shots at Trump, Carney added, “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”
With something that would always get mass-immigration and homeland-security-concerned Trump’s attention, Carney also talked about youth programs to ease the rules to allow for freer travel, work, sports and education opportunities for Canadians who would be able to go to the 27 European Union countries and for EU citizens to travel to Canada.
Calling it an “alliance of the future,” Carney added, “together, Canada and the European Union can anchor our ground to hold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive” and “this is about sovereignty. Our ability to live as we wish. It is about the freedoms we must fight for every day. Sovereignty requires resilience — the ability to withstand shocks.”
“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals,” Carney said. “We hold common values, for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant.”
PM at English soccer match
While the media’s focus was on Carney, there was news posted to X that his wife, Diana Fox Carney, has been appointed to a new position as an Ocean’s envoy and will lead an international conference about ocean health in Halifax next year.
The Carneys, who did not until recently live in Canada, are large and in charge of Canada, who it trades with and its economic future.
As Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area woke up to gas prices posted at stations at $1.90 a litre, this was quite a journey for the Canadian prime minister, who was doing both work and fun.
“The first time I went to an Everton match was during the FA Cup in 1989. Unfortunately, it went the wrong way,” Carney posted to his X account. “Tonight, they didn’t disappoint. Thanks for the invite, Andy Burnham.”
As Carney, not wearing Canadian red but Everton blue, took a free kick, Trump took out a red card.
The first time I went to an Everton match was during the FA Cup in 1989. Unfortunately, it went the wrong way.
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) September 16, 2026
Tonight, they didn’t disappoint.
Thanks for the invite, @andyburnham. pic.twitter.com/yNIJfmOKCY
‘Laughable’ and possible ‘hostile act’
“I think it’s laughable,” Trump told the press corps before he boarded Air Force One in North Carolina. “Canada has been a terrible trade partner.”
But the president, who has used trade as a weapon in his first two years in office in his second term. went further.
“If I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” said the very man who has talked about taking over Greenland , called Canada the 51st state and renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America.
But Trump has not gone as far as to threaten limitations for Canadians or Europeans to travel to the United States without visas as they enjoy now. Nor has he threatened to pull pre-screening from Canadian airports. While unclear what Trump would see as a hostile act, neither European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nor Carney seem worried.
Both leaders say Europe and Canada will explore many aspects from business to technology and the future of the Arctic.
While he did a short mention on the tarmac, it will be interesting to hear what Trump thinks, post Carney’s Thursday speech, which is a little more than half a year removed from his famous address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which the PM talked about “American hegemony” as a “bargain” that “no longer works: and “we are in the middle of a rupture, not a transition.”
- WARMINGTON: Europe is ready to welcome Canada, but do Canadians want this?
Carney travels while parliament sits empty
So far, Trump has kept his cards.
“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine,” said Trump. “If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility.”
He’s already placed tariffs on Canadian goods and Carney has reciprocated by doing the same on American products.
As Carney has talked about tough times ahead as a result of plans to play tough with the United States, he has not appeared to be tightening his own belt or spending by flying around robustly and in style. Fresh off a vacation to Tuscany in August, a cabinet retreat at the luxurious Banff Springs Hotel last week , a flight over to Strasbourg, France, on the plane to England for a soccer game and then back over to Strasbourg for a European parliament address, Carney is jet-setting as Canada’s House of Commons sits empty.
It is supposed to resume next week, and Carney did tell reporters in France that any new arrangement with the EU would be something voted in in the House.
He did not say if it was something Canadians would have a chance to vote for or against.
While Canadians wake to hearing Canada is seeking to become a associate member of the European Union, and that prime minister @MarkJCarney went to an Everton soccer game and his wife Diana is about to become Canada‘s Ocean’s Czar, they’re also waking up to $1.91 a litre for gas pic.twitter.com/Od3g2NdRYk
— Joe Warmington (@joe_warmington) September 17, 2026