Inside Canada's EU Courtship

Ryan Knutson (0:05)

The relationship between Canada and the US has been on the rocks for a while. And now, it seems like Canada is ready to move on.

SPEAKER_2 (0:15)

Canada wants to be a part of the European Union. Prime Minister Mark Carney says he is interested in making Canada the first associate member of the EU.

Ryan Knutson (0:24)

Last week, The Wall Street Journal broke the story that Canada is in talks to become an associate member of the European Union.

SPEAKER_3 (0:31)

What's been happening since, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a flurry of diplomacy with Europe.

Ryan Knutson (0:38)

What is an associate member of the European Union?

Drew Hinshaw (0:43)

Nobody knows. That is such a great question. What is an associate member?

Ryan Knutson (0:47)

That's our colleague Drew Hinshaw.

Drew Hinshaw (0:49)

I think it's a bit deeper than finding, like, someone else to buy Canadian products. I think it's about finding a set of countries that Canada shares, values or fields it shares values with, with whom it can create institutions and tech capabilities that are sort of out of the reach of America's wrecking ball.

Ryan Knutson (1:12)

So it's obviously not every day that a country that is not in Europe, brings up the European Union and says, hey, can we join you? How big of a deal is this moment?

Drew Hinshaw (1:24)

This is a massive rewiring of the economic cabling of what we call the West.

For a long time, the West as a geoeconomic structure has revolved around the United States, its market, its military power, its technology. And all of a sudden, our closest allies, our northern neighbor, our allies across the ocean, are saying we are too dependent on America.

Joe Parkinson (1:44)

It is something that the European Union's never done before.

Ryan Knutson (1:47)

That's our colleague, Joe Parkinson.

Joe Parkinson (1:49)

I mean, there has been talk for years of the idea of some kind of flexible membership, some kind of associate membership. And it's been talked about for Ukraine. It was obviously talked about for the UK after Brexit. And the fact is that the conditions now seem to be ripe enough, and Canada seems to be the candidate that's right enough that they can actually, for the first time, do this. So it is a big deal. It's a historic moment. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

Ryan Knutson (2:23)

I mean, this is like a generational bet that Canada is making on Europe over the US.

Drew Hinshaw (2:28)

That's right. This is a huge bet on Europe whose economy is growing at half the rate of the United States.

And Carney is trying to say to his country, there are more fish in the sea.

Joe Parkinson (2:42)

Senior leaders in the West are talking about these issues and sort of trying to think and design almost in real time what the West decoupled from America might look like.

Ryan Knutson (2:55)

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Ryan Knutson. It's Tuesday, September 22nd.

Coming up on the show, why Canada is cozying up to Europe.

SPEAKER_6 (3:24)

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