In Paris, the French president and Canadian prime minister meet and talk about Ukraine and commerce.
As relations with the United States have deteriorated, Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, met with President Emmanuel Macron of France during his first formal travel abroad to solicit assistance from one of Canada’s oldest allies.
Carney stated that Canada should “reinforce its ties with reliable allies like France” during a joint news conference held Monday at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
“As you are determined to maintain the best possible relations with the United States, I want to make sure that France and the entire European Union work enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, but also resolutely North American,” Carney stated.
His visit, nevertheless, coincides with escalating hostilities with US President Donald Trump, who has placed high tariffs on Canadian exports. Canada has imposed retaliatory tariffs of its own.
Infuriating Canadians, Trump has also made repeated threats to annex the nation and make it the 51st US state. Like his predecessor, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney made it clear when he assumed the premiership that this would never occur.
Macron claimed that tariffs only cause inflation, but he made no mention of Trump’s attacks on Canada.
Macron stated, “We are stronger together, better able to ensure the respect of our interests, the full exercise of our sovereignty.” He added, “In the current international context, we want to be able to develop our most strategic projects with our closest, more loyal partners.”
Carney’s decision to make his first foreign trip to France and the UK is quite meaningful, according to Natacha Butler of Al Jazeera, who was reporting from Paris. Prime ministers from Canada typically travel to Washington first. Although Donald Trump’s name was not brought up, these two leaders were undoubtedly thinking about the US president, who is upending long-standing ties and enacting tariffs on both Canada and France.
In the midst of ongoing US-backed talks for a ceasefire agreement in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Macron and Carney also vowed to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty.
In order to establish enduring peace and guarantee “the security of the whole of Europe,” Macron stated that France and Canada were two “peaceful powers” that would “continue to demand clear commitments from Russia” and “continue to support Kyiv.”
Two days prior to the meeting, Carney and Macron participated in a video conference hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday, which brought together nations that back Ukraine and are open to joining a “coalition of the willing” to strengthen any peace agreement on the ground.
According to an unidentified government official quoted by the AFP news agency on Monday, the Canadian leader has extended an invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend the June Group of Seven (G7) summit in Alberta.
Later on Monday, Carney, who took over for Trudeau last week, will go to the UK to meet with King Charles III, the head of state of both Canada and Britain, and Starmer.
Although Carney has not yet scheduled a trip to Washington, the prime minister stated last week that he would be amenable to talking with Trump if he respected Canadian sovereignty.
