Carney to Trump: "this alliance is a positive process"
Prime Minister of Canada
“This alliance is a positive process, that's my response to the American president. Canadians are united that nobody is going to tell us what language we speak, no-one is going to dictate our culture, or with whom we can strike agreements internationally.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
BBC report on Carney's European Parliament address and his press-conference response to Trump's tariff threat.
Before the quotation
Said at a press conference following Carney's September 17, 2026 address to the European Parliament, responding directly to Trump's tariff threat made the previous day.
After the quotation
Carney separately reiterated at the same appearance that Canada was "not in a position, nor seeking, to become a full member of the European Union."
How this statement is classified
Case context: Should Canada become an associate member of the European Union?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Carney directly frames the alliance as "a positive process" in response to Trump's tariff threat, matching the case's convention for statements defending the arrangement (cf. his own earlier statement, id 944).
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Donald Trump
Should Canada become an associate member of the European Union?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“Yesterday, President von der Leyen spoke of moving beyond CETA to an alliance for the future – opening the door to Canada becoming the European Union’s first associate member. Canada welcomes this ambition – polling shows an overwhelming majority of Canadians support much closer ties with Europe.” … “I want to be precise about what I am not proposing. I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners.” … “We are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”Read statement
“Sure, I think deeper trade EU is great. If we can expand trade with them, awesome. … But to culturally get closer to them, that's what makes me nervous. This whole digital trade agreement, seeing what we've been seeing in the EU and the laws they've been trying to pass, no thank you. … There's nothing he said there that I disagree with. It's spot on. … So what does an associate membership really mean? Because it looks like you keep wanting to get closer to them. You're going to have to give up some type of sovereignty if you want to do it the way that you seem to want to be doing it.”Read statement
“Madame von der Leyen did what we may call a friendly exaggeration. … So it's an exaggeration, but it's a friendly one, because it shows how much she's willing to have close links with us. … Canada doesn't want to transfer sovereignty, whether federal or provincial, to Brussels. That's something that will not happen. And the EU cannot give to Canada all the advantages of the EU without the constraints, because the EU members would say it's unfair for us. … Maybe she did not choose the right words, but it's a good wake-up call for everyone.”Read statement