LONDON (AP) — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday during his first official overseas trip, seeking support from one of Ottawa’s oldest allies as U.S. President Donald Trump attacks Canada’s sovereignty and economy.
Macron did not address Trump’s attacks on Canada ahead of the talks but noted tariffs only bring inflation.
“In the current international context, we want to be able to develop our most strategic projects with our closest, more loyal partners,” Macron said, adding that “we are stronger together, better able to ensure the respect of our interests, the full exercise of our sovereignty.”
Macron and Carney did not take journalists’ questions ahead of the talks. An official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the Canadians proposed a press conference, but the French declined.
Carney was sworn in on Friday. After Paris, his next stop was London, where he was due to hold talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III, the head of state in Canada. Starmer is not expected to hold a joint news conference with Carney either.
The two leaders of countries that founded Canada have not spoken up for Canada while it has come under almost daily attacks by Trump, a sign they are reluctant to upset Trump as he’s about to put tariffs on all trading partners on April 2.
However, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in the House of Commons on Monday that it was “a pleasure to be back in Canada, a proud sovereign nation” when he attended a G-7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Quebec last week.
Carney will also travel to the edge of Canada’s Arctic on Tuesday to reaffirm the country’s security and sovereignty.
Why Paris and London?
Carney has chosen the two European capital cities that shaped Canada’s early existence. During his swearing-in, he noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples, French, English and Indigenous. He said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States.”
“I want to ensure that France, and the whole of Europe, works enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, and at the same time resolutely North American, determined, like you, to maintain the most positive relations possible with the United States,” Carney said Monday.
Since Trump came to office, he has imposed whopping tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and repeatedly commented on turning Canada into the 51st state, infuriating Canadians and sparking a call to boycott U.S. products across the country.
Macron said fair trade “is certainly more effective than tariffs, which create inflation and damage supply chains and our economic integration.”
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said other leaders are “playing it safe” and making sure to avoid gaffes at a time of international tension stemming from Trump’s actions and rhetoric.
Carney’s choice of itinerary emphasizes Canada’s strong connection with the two former colonial powers, said Béland.
“The fact that Canada never broke away from the U.K. in a violent fashion is a key historical and institutional difference between the United States and Canada, a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic that has adopted and retained a U.K.-style parliamentary system,” Béland said.
The trip to London will be a kind of homecoming. Carney became the first non-British governor in the Bank of England’s 319-year history when he took the job on July 1, 2013. He served until March 15, 2020.
No Washington trip planned
Carney, who turned 60 on Sunday, has said he’s ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he doesn’t plan to visit Washington at the moment but hopes to have a phone call with the president soon. His government is also reviewing the purchase of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war.
Meanwhile, Macron has been increasing efforts to persuade France’s allies to move away from purchases of American military hardware, which also coincides with mounting concerns in Europe that European defenses are overly dependent on U.S. weaponry, technical support and goodwill.
Macron touched on the French-British plan for securing any ceasefire in Ukraine.
“This common commitment at the side of the Ukrainians has always aimed for a peace that is solid and lasting,” Macron said. “Canada and France are powers of peace, reliable allies, which will take part together in this effort.” He did not give details.
Carney spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone late Sunday and invited him to the G7 summit this summer that Canada is hosting.
Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he pushes to end the war in Ukraine.
Carney is expected to call a parliamentary election by the end of the week, to take place in late April or early May. Canada’s governing Liberal Party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war. Now, the party and its new leader could come out on top.
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Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.