EU proposes 'associate member' status for Canada amid US tariff dispute
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed making Canada the EU's first-ever associate member, during her State of the Union address in Strasbourg. Per AP (NPR) and AFP/Reuters (Al Jazeera).
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg on September 16, 2026 to propose that Canada become the EU's first-ever 'associate member.' She made the offer directly to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the speech. Around 70 percent of Canada's exports currently go to the United States, and von der Leyen pointed to President Trump's tariffs and his talk of Canada as a '51st state' as part of the backdrop. Canada already benefits from the CETA trade deal, credited with boosting EU-Canada trade more than 80 percent since 2016, and this year became the first non-EU country admitted to the bloc's roughly 150-billion-euro SAFE defense procurement program. However, EU treaties do not currently define an 'associate member' category, and von der Leyen gave no details on how the arrangement would work. The idea was first proposed by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this year, for Ukraine. An EU-Canada summit is set for Montreal next month. Sources: AP via NPR, AFP and Reuters via Al Jazeera.