Canada is the “most European of the non-European countries”, Mark Carney has said during his first overseas trip as prime minister to France and the UK, where he is seeking stronger alliances to deal with Donald Trump’s attacks on his country’s sovereignty and economy.
Without mentioning the US president by name, Carney and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, held a joint press conference in Paris to show a united stance against what they said were economic and geopolitical crises – a reference to Trump’s trade war and “America first” diplomacy that has left longtime allies scrambling.
“Canada is a unique friend,” Macron said, adding that fair trade was more effective than tariffs. Carney spoke in French and English, and said it was important for Canada to strengthen ties with “reliable allies”.
“I want to ensure that France and the whole of Europe work enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, determined like you to maintain the most positive possible relations with the United States,” he said.
A senior Canadian government official who briefed reporters on Carney’s plane said the purpose of the trip was to strengthen partnerships with Canada’s two founding countries. The official said Canada was a “good friend of the United States but we all know what is going on”.
Carney, a former central banker who turned 60 on Sunday, travelled to London later on Monday to meet King Charles, Canada’s head of state. He was due to talk after with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in an effort to diversify trade and coordinate a response to Trump’s tariffs.
The trip to London is something of a homecoming, as Carney is a former governor of the Bank of England, the first non-citizen to be named to the role in its more than 300 years.
The former economist is deliberately making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries that shaped Canada’s early existence. At his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, he noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples: Indigenous, French and British.
He said Canada was fundamentally different from the US and would “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States”.
Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said: “The Trump factor is the reason for the trip. The Trump factor towers over everything else Carney must deal with.”
On his return trip home from Europe, Carney will travel to the edge of Canada’s Arctic to “reaffirm Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty” before returning to Ottawa, where he is expected to call an election within days.
Carney has said he is ready to meet Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he did not plan to visit Washington at the moment but hoped to have a phone call with the president soon.
Sweeping tariffs of 25% and Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, and many are avoiding buying American goods. Carney’s government is reviewing the purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war.
The governing Liberal party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war and said repeatedly that Canada should become the 51st state. Now the party and its new leader, Carney, could come out on top.
Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, said Carney was wise not to visit Trump. “There’s no point in going to Washington,” Bothwell said. “As [the former prime minister Justin] Trudeau’s treatment shows, all that results in is a crude attempt by Trump to humiliate his guests.”
Bothwell said Trump demanded respect, “but it’s often a one-way street, asking others to set aside their self-respect to bend to his will”.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it was absolutely essential Canada diversified amid the trade war with the US. More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the US.
Béland said Arctic sovereignty was also a key issue for Canada. He said: “President Trump’s aggressive talk about both Canada and Greenland and the apparent rapprochement between Russia, a strong Arctic power, and the United States under Trump have increased anxieties about our control over this remote yet highly strategic region.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
