The UK should “team up” with a proposed economic alliance between Canada and Europe, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has said.
“This is all about the substance, to build an alliance of the future,” he told the BBC. “The world has changed. America has changed. So we need to change.”
Champagne also gave a frank assessment of the Canada-US trade war after a deal collapsed last month, saying the country had “stood up for our industries, our workers, our country” by imposing tariffs.
His comments come after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed “opening the door” to an associate EU membership for Canada, an unprecedented move for the bloc.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to address the European Union in Strasbourg, shortly after von der Leyen’s proposal was made, was “to build the alliance of the future”, Champagne said.
Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England, has previously talked about an alliance of “middle powers” working together on economic growth, resilience and security.
Speaking to the BBC, Champagne said the UK and Canada had shared values.
“We need to look at partnership in a different way, and the great thing is that when you look at Canada, and I would say the United Kingdom, we share the same values. We are very aligned in our vision of the world. Why don’t we team up?” he said.
“We are independent and sovereign, but we are stronger together.”
After his return to the White House last year, US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping global tariffs, including on long-standing trade allies such as the UK.
While the UK renegotiated a trade deal with the US in June last year, the new Canada-EU alliance does raise questions for the UK’s post Brexit positioning with Europe, as well as its position with the US, after some changes of presidential rhetoric over the Falklands and Irish unity in recent weeks.
Carney met Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool in the middle of his trip to Brussels and Strasbourg last week, while Champagne attended a meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on Friday, alongside the Chancellor John Healey.
