Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada is on a mission to break his country’s dependence on the United States and build deeper trade, defense and cultural ties with European and Asian powers.
In a wide-ranging interview with New York Times journalists earlier this week, he spoke in detail about the opportunities and limits of each of the major partnerships he is pursuing.
A close review of his answers about Canada’s relationship with the European Union, China and India highlights that, despite credible plans to strengthen those partnerships, none is likely to offer a one-for-one replacement for the unique, vast economic relationship between Canada and the United States.
For example, he acknowledged that the European Union’s economy was barely growing, but identified it as the top priority for Canada, saying the two were complementary in key ways; he laid out the limits of Canada’s re-energized relationship with China; and he admitted he could not guarantee an end to all India-linked crime in Canada, despite the pursuit of a closer relationship with Delhi.
Europe: Not Just Economics
During a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week, Mr. Carney set his country on a path toward becoming an “associate member” of the bloc, a status that does not yet formally exist but could bring closer ties in several areas.
Despite the bloc’s sluggish growth, Mr. Carney said, Canada has much to gain.
“It’s not growing, but it’s the second biggest economy in the world, in hard dollars or hard euros, and we are underpenetrated in that economy,” he said in his interview on Wednesday at The Times’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, apologizing for speaking “like an economist.”
“Greater penetration of Europe is a bigger opportunity for Canada than China,” he added, explaining that China’s economy is “less complementary to the nature of our economy than Europe right now.”
Mr. Carney cited space, defense procurement, cyber policy, artificial intelligence and pharmaceuticals as economic areas where Canada and the European Union could grow together.
He added that the cultural affinity between Europe and Canada, which was settled by Europeans, was a critical factor behind the push for closer ties.
“The Europeans aren’t going to tell us what we have to put on our landing pages of Netflix or Spotify, and that stuff matters,” he said, in reference to a sore point in Canada’s trade talks with the United States, which collapsed last month. During those talks, American negotiators pushed against Canada’s demand that online streaming services promote Canadian cultural content more prominently for Canadian consumers.
China: Limited, but Important
Earlier this year, Mr. Carney visited Beijing after years of strained relations with China that began during the “Two Michaels” crisis. The Chinese government imprisoned two Canadian nationals, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on spurious grounds after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, a top Huawei executive and daughter of the telecom giant’s founder, who had been charged by the United States.
During his January visit, Mr. Carney and President Xi Jinping declared a new chapter in the relationship, calling it a “strategic partnership,” a term with particular weight in Chinese diplomatic vernacular.
The visit yielded a concrete, if limited, agreement, for China to allow Canadian agricultural products — primarily canola — to enter at lower or no tariffs, while Canada would admit a small number of Chinese electric vehicles at a low tariff rate.
The agreement drew criticism from the White House at the time, but a few hours before Mr. Xi landed in Washington for a state visit on Wednesday, Mr. Carney brushed that off. Canada’s agreement with China was “a fraction of the level of U.S. cooperation with China,” he told The Times.
Mr. Carney said deepening cooperation with China did not mean that he was oblivious to the risks involved. “Two things can be true at the same time; there’s certainly issues,” he said. “We’re very vigilant about foreign interference from any actor in our society, but we’re also calibrating our relationships according to our values,” he added. Canadians of Chinese descent have accused Beijing of transnational repression, and there is evidence that China has intervened in Canadian political affairs.
In preparing for this new chapter, Mr. Carney said, he spoke with Mr. Xi about “setting up clear guidelines on the relationship, where we look to cooperate, where we did not expect to cooperate.” Artificial intelligence is an area where Canada will not have a deep cooperation with China, he said.
By contrast, he sees potential in agriculture and clean energy, and expects to build cooperation on financial services with China. That would require China to loosen restraints it currently has in place on the free flow of capital in and out of the country — a process that Mr. Carney acknowledged would be “very challenging.”
India: Progress, but No Guarantees
Canada’s relationship with India has been similarly tumultuous but has seen a positive reset under Mr. Carney. He visited India earlier this year, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Canada in December.
Relations ruptured in late 2024, when Justin Trudeau, who was prime minister at the time, revealed that the Indian government had a hand in the assassination of a Sikh community leader in British Columbia. Mr. Trudeau also said that Indian government agents, some posing as diplomats, had orchestrated a spate of violent crimes against Sikh communities across Canada, including extortion, arson and intimidation. The two countries recalled their top diplomats and lower-ranking emissaries following Mr. Trudeau’s intervention.
Mr. Carney has sought to repair the relationship. During his visit to India earlier this year, he struck a significant uranium agreement while avoiding discussion of the diplomatic rupture.
On Wednesday, he told The Times that the Indian authorities had been coordinating with Canada in “protecting communities.” He declined to provide details, saying he didn’t want to delve into specific prosecutions.
“The security cooperation that’s part of the relationship, which could not take place in a rupture, we think is helpful and good,” Mr. Carney said. “I’m a believer that, regardless of the relationship, it’s important to have a relationship so you can deliver messages directly, as opposed to preach from afar, and to limited effect,” he added. “So there’s been progress.”
Asked if he believed that transnational repression and meddling in Canadian affairs had so radically improved since Mr. Trudeau’s intervention that it no longer posed a threat to Canadians of Indian descent, Mr. Carney said: “You asked your question almost like, ‘Can I guarantee that no crime will occur in Canada?’ I can’t guarantee that.”
Colby Smith contributed reporting.