Trump Warns EU over Canada Alliance

US President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with steep tariffs or trade restrictions if it moves ahead with Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal to make Canada the bloc’s first associate member.

“I think it’s laughable”, Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things.”

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe”, he added.

The European Commission rejected the suggestion that closer ties with Canada were directed against the United States. “This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength”, von der Leyen said when unveiling the proposal.

The idea has yet to take concrete form. The EU has never had an associate membership category, and its precise meaning, including what rights and obligations Canada would have, remains unclear.

French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad rejected Trump’s intervention, arguing that the United States should not determine Europe’s political and geopolitical choices.

Von der Leyen presented the proposal during her State of the Union address on Wednesday, attended by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. She called for a broader “Alliance for the Future” between Canada and the EU, encompassing areas including technology, defense, energy and critical minerals.

The proposal has also drawn skepticism from some European diplomats. “Nobody really knows what it means”, one told Reuters, while expressing concern that von der Leyen was “overpromising and won’t be able to deliver”.

(Reuters, bak)