Prime Minister Mark Carney will host European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, October 29 and 30, for a Canada-European Union summit. In an October 25 announcement, Carney's office said the two sides have spent "the past year and a half" working "to forge an ambitious new partnership," and that Canada is hosting the summit "to advance this partnership." The most closely watched question is whether the leaders' joint statement will call Canada an "associate member" of the EU, a status von der Leyen proposed in September. President Donald Trump has said such a move could be "a hostile act" and threatened tariffs on Europe, while the European Commission says the plan "is not against anyone else." Separately, seven of the EU's 27 member states have objected to the term in the summit text, according to an EU official, because its meaning has not been defined. At home, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre backs existing trade and NATO ties with Europe but says Canada will "never be the 28th state of the European Union," while a Nanos poll for The Globe and Mail found 79 per cent of Canadians at least somewhat support associate membership.
What Ottawa says it wants
The Prime Minister's Office described the summit as a trade of strengths: "The EU brings market power, research depth, and manufacturing strength. Canada brings abundant energy, critical minerals, world-class capabilities in space, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum, and one of the world's strongest banking systems." The stated goals are "more choice and lower costs for consumers, new export markets for businesses, and greater opportunities for young people to live, work, and study" on either side of the Atlantic. "The world is more dangerous and divided," Carney said in the release, describing the goal as "an alliance strong enough so that no one can dictate our choices, and an alliance open enough that others can join." The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner, at about $178 billion in goods and services in 2025 by the release's count, and in February Canada became the first non-European country to join the EU's SAFE defence initiative.
Carney has tied the push to U.S. trade policy. "The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade," he said a year ago, when he set a goal of doubling Canada's non-U.S. exports over a decade. "We have to take care of ourselves because we can't rely on one foreign partner." He has called Canada "the most European of non-European countries."
What may be signed
Several draft versions have been reported, and all of them can change before or during the meeting. A draft joint statement obtained by The Globe and Mail would launch an "alliance for the future" and treat Canada as an "associate member," while saying that "the full scope of this associate membership will be defined by the 2027 Canada-EU Summit." An earlier version, which the EU Council's secretariat sent to member governments on September 22 as a draft "received from Canada" and which Politico Europe published, would announce a joint purchase of 50 De Havilland water bombers "ready for use in Canada and Europe in 2030" and open talks on Canadian participation in the Galileo satellite-navigation system. It also says Canada and the European Investment Bank "have completed negotiations of an agreement that will facilitate European Investment in critical Canadian resources, in particular, critical minerals." AFP reports that a draft it saw indicates Canada could join the Erasmus student-exchange program, and EUobserver reports a proposed feasibility study on long-term Canadian liquefied natural gas exports to Europe. Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu has said the two sides are also "closing in on" a digital trade agreement.
The objections
Trump reacted the day von der Leyen made her offer. "If it's a good intention, that's fine. If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe," he said on September 16, calling the idea "laughable" and Canada "a terrible trade partner." A Commission spokesperson replied that the plan "is not against anyone else, but for our common strength." In Strasbourg the next day, Carney said Canada "is not in a position nor seeking to become a full member of the European Union" and that "there will be a vote in the Canadian parliament for the final structure of the alliance."
The objection from EU governments, as an official described it to The Globe and Mail, is about the label. Associate membership does not appear in the EU treaties. The official said the seven objecting governments, described only as "big member states," were "not necessarily against the idea of 'associate membership' but they didn't know exactly what it meant"; Politico has reported that Germany is among the countries leading the resistance. Trade itself is also contested in parts of Europe: French National Rally MEP Angeline Furet told AFP that existing free trade with Canada is "ruining our agriculture sector," and AFP notes that the 2016 CETA trade agreement "has not been fully implemented."
In Canada, Poilievre says his party supports "the decades-old free trade & NATO defence alliance with Europe" and wants "co-operation with Europe," but will not cede control of Canada's laws, taxes or immigration. "Conservatives say no EU taxes, no EU laws, and no EU open-border rules on immigration in Canada," he said in September, and, as quoted by AFP, he has said Canada will "never be the 51st state of the US, but we will also never be the 28th state of the European Union." The Nanos poll, cited in a Globe column on October 24, found 58 per cent of Canadians fully and 21 per cent somewhat supporting associate membership.
This article reflects reporting through the afternoon of Monday, October 26, 2026. Sources: Prime Minister's Office, October 25; The Globe and Mail, October 21; AFP via CP24, October 26; the September 21 draft joint statement published by Politico Europe, and AeroTime; EUobserver; Wealth Professional; BNN Bloomberg; Euronews; The Associated Press via PBS.
