President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to retaliate against Europe if the European Union follows through on a proposal to make Canada its first associate member.
The plan, floated earlier in the day by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, would deepen the EU’s ties with Canada beyond their existing trade agreement.
Trump said he could respond with heavy tariffs or curb trade with Europe if he viewed the move as hostile, extending his trade fight with Canada to one of America’s largest economic partners.
“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,” Trump told reporters after landing in North Carolina on Wednesday.
Trump called the prospect “laughable” and described Canada as a “terrible trade partner.”
On Wednesday, Trump also issued a presidential memorandum directing federal agencies to identify Canadian-origin goods that could be removed from the federal procurement system, citing what his administration described as barriers facing US companies seeking Canadian government contracts.
At a rally on the same day, Trump said the US was “carrying the European nations with a $200 billion deficit,” referring to the US goods deficit with the EU.
“All we have to do is say, you know what? We’re not trading with you anymore. We don’t need anything they have. We have cars, we have lumber, we have food, we have everything,” Trump said.
Von der Leyen’s proposed arrangement remains undefined: EU treaties do not currently provide for such a status, and officials have yet to spell out what rights or obligations it would carry.
Canada and the EU already have a broad trade agreement, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Von der Leyen said she wanted to build on it with a wider partnership spanning technology, energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, defense, and the Arctic.
After US-Canada trade talks broke down last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney moved to deepen Canada’s commercial and security ties with Europe.
On Wednesday, his office said Ottawa had formally applied to join the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a rapid-response military partnership of 10 northern European NATO countries.
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