Carney says Canada is too dependent on U.S., sees closer strategic alignment with Europe

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada had become too dependent on the United States and needed to deepen ties with other like-minded partners, particularly the European Union.

“The lesson we’ve taken, Canadians as a whole, is that we’re overdependent on the United States, too closely connected to the United States,” Carney said in an interview with DW in Montreal. “We need to build our strength here at home and diversify and deepen our partnerships with like-minded countries internationally.”

Carney said Canada’s values were most closely aligned with those of the European Union and argued that the two sides had complementary strengths that could support a deeper partnership.

“When we look around the world, we see our values most aligned with those of the European Union,” he said.

Asked whether Canada and Europe risked being sidelined by larger powers, Carney rejected the premise, saying middle powers including Canada and the EU could help “set the table and choose the menu.”

He also said closer Canada-EU relations were not intended as an anti-U.S. bloc, noting that both remain NATO allies of Washington and that broad cooperation with the United States would continue.

On Ukraine, Carney criticized what he called “mixed signals and apparent support for Russia.”

“Russia is the aggressor. Russia ultimately is going to lose this war,” he said.