Carney welcomes EU invite for Canada to become first associate member

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday welcomed the European Union's ambition to make Ottawa an associate member of the 27-nation bloc and said Canadian lawmakers would ultimately vote on the final structure of the alliance.

"Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together," Carney told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.

Canada's prime minister did not name President Donald Trump in his speech, but he nodded to his U.S. counterpart's use of tariffs by saying, "Economic integration is now being weaponized — tariffs being used to exert pressure."

Speaking in French, Carney continued: "Financial mechanisms have been used for coercion. Supply chains constitute weak points to be exploited."

His comments come shortly after Trump described the prospect of Canada becoming the first associate member of the EU as "laughable" and threatened the bloc with tariffs if he deemed the move to be a "hostile act."