US threatens to stop trading with EU over membership offer to Canada

Friday, September 18, 2026 - President Donald Trump has threatened the EU with “serious tariffs” and a halt to trade after the bloc proposed making Canada its first ever associate member – an idea he derided as “laughable.”

Trump said that if the EU moved forward with the plan, Washington could impose “very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe.” He added: “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.”

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, is due to address the European parliament on Thursday, a day after European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, invited his country to become the EU’s first “associate member.”

Von der Leyen pitched closer cooperation on tech, defence, and energy to Carney, telling the European parliament that, as democracies faced a “fracture in the international rules-based system,” Brussels and Ottawa needed to pull closer together.

She said: “This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength. In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible.”

In response to Trump’s comments, France’s Europe minister Benjamin Haddad said that Washington had no power to veto EU decisions.

“It is not up to the United States, or anyone else, to choose the political and geopolitical direction of the Europeans. Once again, we have a relationship with Canada, and we are fully entitled to seek to deepen it,” Haddad said.

A European Commission spokesperson stated: “As our president made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of the relationship with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength.”

Carney has called for a “unique alliance” with the EU as Canada seeks to reduce its heavy dependence on US trade. After meeting EU leaders in Strasbourg, he described the EU and Canada as “natural partners, united by shared values” and said that both sides were focused on “a deeper partnership that reinforces our mutual sovereignty to create more opportunities and prosperity for our peoples.”

An associate membership agreement would have to be approved by the EU’s 27 member states, who generally support closer ties with Canada, but were taken by surprise by the term.