# Canada courts Europe as Trump turns up the heat

> Mark Carney pitched Canada as a safe harbour for global capital and floated a new kind of alliance with the EU.
- Title: Canada courts Europe as Trump turns up the heat · the Guardian
- Summary: Mark Carney pitched Canada as a safe harbour for global capital and floated a new kind of alliance with the EU. Canada is hedging hard toward Europe, but…
- Keywords: canada, european union, trade, mark carney, geopolitics, news, world, courts, Europe, Trump, turns, heat
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/15/canada-eu-economic-alliance
- Published: 2026-09-15T19:08:37+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: canada, european union, trade, mark carney, geopolitics, news, world
## Carney courts Europe
At the first Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, Mark Carney said Canada will pursue a "unique security and economic alliance" with Europe.

> unique security and economic alliance
## A safe harbour pitch
Speaking to investors, executives and ministers, Carney sold Canada as a stable home for foreign capital and a place to build in the new global economic order.
## Eighteen months of rupture
The relationship with the US has fractured since early 2025, leaving Canada hunting for ways to avoid economic devastation.
## Tariffs as leverage
Carney described a world where economic integration is weaponised and openness now collides with sovereignty, a clear nod to Trump's tariff habit.

> Sovereignty and openness are now in tension. Economic integration is being weaponised.
## Two lessons from the break
Take care of ourselves, take care of each other. In practice that means building strength at home while spreading partnerships abroad.

> We must take care of ourselves, and second, we must take care of each other.
## Strasbourg this week
Carney is guest of honour at the European parliament, attending von der Leyen's state of the union and addressing MEPs. She scrapped plans to leave after backlash.
## Close, but not a member
Brussels wants Canada as near as possible without membership, and it will not be called associate membership. Brexit hardened the rule against splitting the single market's four freedoms.
## What Europe wants next
MEP Javier Moreno Sánchez wants concrete steps: mobility for professionals, student exchanges, joint work on defence and AI.

> Canadians are the most European people outside Europe.
## Already deep in defence
Canada is the only non-European member of Europe's defence procurement initiative and the first outsider to join the EU's 150bn euro defence loans scheme.
## Ceta is still half-signed
Ten member states including France, Italy and Poland have never ratified the EU-Canada trade deal a decade on, so parts of it still are not in force.
## The numbers say America
EU-Canada trade hit 130bn euros in 2025, up 80% since Ceta was signed. US trade is worth nearly 880bn dollars.
## Cash on the table
Carney announced a corporate tax mega-deduction, opened four major airports to foreign investment, and his office flagged nearly C$500bn in new domestic investment.
## Not everyone is buying
Thousands joined the Many vs the Money protest in Toronto, arguing public money should not de-risk private projects while communities carry the costs.

> Mark Carney's here selling Canada to the international community.
## Key takeaway

Canada is hedging hard toward Europe, but geography means the US stays its biggest trading partner no matter what gets signed.