Carney says Canada must reduce its overdependence on United States

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country had recognised its excessive dependence on the United States and needed to diversify its international partnerships amid strained trade relations with Washington.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that his country had recognised its excessive dependence on the United States and needed to diversify its international partnerships amid strained trade relations with Washington.

Speaking to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) after the Canada-European Union summit in Montreal, Carney said Canadians had realised they were too closely connected to their southern neighbour.

“The lesson we’ve taken, Canadians as a whole, is we’re overdependent on the United States. Too closely connected to the United States. And we need to build our strength here at home and diversify and deepen our partnerships with like-minded countries internationally,” Carney said.

He said Canada wanted to strengthen cooperation with the European Union, but stressed that the initiative was not intended to create a bloc against the United States, Canada’s biggest trading partner.

Carney identified space technology, artificial intelligence and critical minerals as potential areas for closer cooperation with the EU. He also pointed to existing partnerships, including the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), research cooperation through Horizon Europe and academic exchanges under the Erasmus+ programme.

He said cooperation between Canada and Europe could be deeper than that between Canada and the United States in some areas, while emphasising that Ottawa remained committed to maintaining its longstanding ties with Washington.

“The bonds between Canadians and Americans are longstanding. They’re very strong. And big elements of that will be maintained regardless of the government in Canada, the government in the United States, the combination of the two,” he said.

Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa met in Montreal on October 29 and 30, where they launched a new Canada-EU partnership known as the Alliance for the Future.