The prospect of Canada joining the European bloc — despite the obvious geographical barriers — has come up recently on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.Canada in the 1990s and 2000s was generally very favorable to eastward expansion of the EU because many Canadian diplomats saw this as an opportunity for deeper engagement with Europe.
Speaking at the Europe 2026 conference in Berlin in March, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the European Union is attracting more candidate countries, such as Iceland, and suggested “maybe Canada at some point” will sign up.
Barrot smiled while mentioning Canada and his comments generated some laughter from a panel moderator and applause from the audience.
The European Parliament adopted a report last month calling on the EU to deepen ties with Canada. Members said in an accompanying statement that Canada is “perhaps the most European country outside Europe.” (1)
And there are political initiatives to increase the ties between Canada and the EU: (2)
This is important issue that is very complex in practice. The EU is very resourceful at creating partnerships and associations with countries not formally part of the Union. But it’s important to remember that the European Union treaty includes a mutual defense obligation, which on its face is more binding than the NATO Treaty version. In practice, NATO has been far more prominent as a defense organization because it’s primarily directed at defending against Russia. And European NATO countries’ strategy actual military planning and organization have been closely tied in with American weapons, intelligence, and military organization. It’s a major priority right now for European NATO members to rearrange their defense planning and their own military-industrial capabilities to get out of the current level of dependence of the US.
They will of course make their own mistakes in the process, and war profiteers will play the dubious role they always do. European leaders may not agree on exactly what adjustments will be needed and how fast they can and should be achieved. But they clearly see that the security situation has radically changed under Trump 2.0.
But this also creates real complications for Canada actually joining the EU. Canada is a current NATO member. But if NATO is formally abolished, or if the US formally leaves it, that means that Canada joining the EU with a full mutual-defense commitment would be an extremely touchy issue. It might not flip out the American foreign policy establishment as much as, say, a mutual-defense treaty between China and Mexico. But they also wouldn’t be likely to swallow it without pushing back hard.
But it would be hard to overstate the seriousness of the situation we had within the last year in which Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and even Poland publicly stated when the US was seriously threatening Denmark with invading and seizing Greenland, that that took seriously their mutual-defense obligation under NATO to defend Denmark against any illegal foreign attack. It seems that a lot of American commentators, though, blipped right past that as though it was just another daily episode of the Trump Reality-TV Show. The EU countries are presumably relieved (maybe with the exception of Hungary!) that Trump TACOed out on that particular threat for the time being.
And it’s understandable that the EU and Canada seem to be treading lightly on this issue. But it’s still one to watch.
Notes:
(1) Canada in the European Union? Poll suggests broad openness to the idea. The Canadian Press 04/06/2026. <https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/economics/2026/04/06/canada-in-the-european-union-poll-suggests-broad-openness-to-the-idea/> (Accessed: 2026-07-04).
(2) 'The case almost makes itself': Should Canada and the EU develop closer ties? CBC News YouTube channel 05/22/2026. <https://youtu.be/pptSbsUbR9I?si=GB0sKFfb53m3NOU8> (Accessed: 2026-09-04).
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