Canada-EU partnership could be considered ‘hostile:’ Trump

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U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with a new round of “heavy tariffs” if its dealings with Canada are not to his liking.

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The president made the threat in comments to reporters on Wednesday after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said they were considering making Canada an “associate member” of the EU during a State of the Union address earlier in the day in Strasbourg, France, that was attended by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

That prompted Trump to say that he could consider the move as a “hostile act” before qualifying the threat.

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine,” he told reporters via CNN. “If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility.”

Threat latest wrinkle in U.S. trade war

The possibility of Canada becoming an “associate” EU member was recently reported on by the Wall Street Journal, which prompted a denial from Carney over the weekend while he was here for the Toronto International Film Festival and the Canada Investment Summit.

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The move is meant to draw Canada closer to Europe amid a trade war with the U.S. that has been ratcheted up in recent weeks with new tariffs and counter-tariffs being levied on billions of dollars’ worth of goods from both countries, Trump’s threat to correct the currency “imbalance” between the nations and the U.S. renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

Trump has also vowed to block Canadian aerospace firm Bombardier – which already has a manufacturing presence in the U.S. – from the American market unless they “build here,” signed an order on Wednesday to ban “Canadian-origin products” from government contracts and repeatedly made comments about Canada becoming the “51st state.”

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EU partnership for ‘our common strength’

Von der Leyen, meanwhile, said the proposal to bring Canada closer to the EU was not meant as “a partnership against anyone else, but for our common strength.

“In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” she said in her address.

Meanwhile, Carney, the former head of the Bank of England, downplayed the EU speculation over the weekend in comments to the CBC at TIFF, adding “we’re not looking to become a member of the European Union.

“What we are looking (at) and will begin discussions for (is a) unique alliance with the European Union,” he said.

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