EU and Canada to seal future alliance against Trump pressure at Montreal summit

European Union and Canadian leaders are meeting in Montreal on Thursday and Friday for a summit described by a senior Commission official as probably one of the most important the EU has ever organized. The two sides want to seal a new “Alliance for the Future” to defend democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the rules-based international order.

The alliance is intended to become the EU’s closest partnership with a third country, covering climate, energy, artificial intelligence, innovation, security and the Arctic. A senior Commission official said the world must have the courage to think outside conventional paths during this period of brutalized international relations.

“The power does not belong only to the strongest, the richest or the loudest.”

One concrete announcement expected at the summit is a digital trade liberalization agreement to complement the CETA treaty signed in 2016. CETA faced opposition from Wallonia and has not yet been ratified by ten member states, including Belgium, which still lacks approval from the Brussels parliament. Its commercial provisions nevertheless entered into force in 2017.

Trade between the two sides of the Atlantic has risen by 80 percent since then, reaching 131 billion euros in 2025. The summit takes place just over a month after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the European Parliament and called for closer ties between Canada and the bloc’s 27 countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously suggested Canada could become the EU’s first “associated member,” but Canadian officials quickly downplayed that possibility. Canada’s ambassador to the EU, Jonathan Wilkinson, said Carney had instead spoken of an “alliance for the future” after von der Leyen’s speech.

Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre insisted Canada would never become an EU member state, citing opposition to EU taxes, laws and uncontrolled European immigration policy. Prime Minister Carney said any agreement would be debated and put to a vote in the Canadian Parliament.

Wilkinson also told La Presse Canadienne that the two sides are not discussing free movement of workers between Canada and Europe. Instead, they are interested in specific sectors that could benefit from a shared labor pool, including Canada’s possible participation in the Erasmus+ study and training program.