AMID US president Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Sigmar Gabriel, former German vice chancellor and foreign minister, made a curious suggestion in an interview with German media outlet The Pioneer: invite Canada into the European Union. Soon after, Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium, addressed Canada on X to say that “[t]here is no reason why EU membership should be off the table.” The thought of this North Atlantic alliance excited some Canadians and Europeans—one YouTube video even theorized how “CANEU” (read: canoe) would be a “global superpower.”
To learn more about what the possibilities are for Canada and the EU, I spoke with Mark Camilleri, president and CEO of the Canada EU Trade and Investment Association—CEUTIA—based in Brussels.
“In terms of trade, what similarities do Canada and the EU share?”
There’s a lot of complementarities when you go across sectors. Take mining, for example. Canada has an abundance of natural resources that the EU doesn’t have, but Europe creates and makes a lot of industrial equipment that helps extract those resources. Europe has a certain need for these resources as part of their own economic security.
If you take a look at the fertilizer that Canada produces, Europe needs it to support their agricultural sector. Another example is nuclear energy. Nuclear is going through a renaissance at the moment, and Canada can basically cover the full supply chain from mining uranium to building nuclear reactors.
Are you unaware of cargo ships and the east coast of Canada?
Yes I know of them. Logistics is the core issue - transport via ships costs money and time. This is why most trade happens between USA, Canada and Mexico in the first place
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Are you unaware of cargo ships and the east coast of Canada?
Sure, some of perishables would be an issue. How do you think we trade with anyone other than the states and Mexico?
Yes I know of them. Logistics is the core issue - transport via ships costs money and time. This is why most trade happens between USA, Canada and Mexico in the first place
Yep. This is where that permanently lost 2% or whatever of GDP comes from in the projections. We can still do it if we have to, though.