EU and Canada forge "alliance for the future" on raw materials, LNG and digital trade
At a summit in Montreal, the EU and Canada agreed on a closer partnership. The focus is on critical raw materials, energy and artificial intelligence – against the backdrop of US tariffs.
Photo: Dati Bendo / European Union / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
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The European Union and Canada are deepening their strategic partnership. This was agreed at a two-day summit in Montreal that ended on Friday. Both sides call the initiative an "alliance for the future" – it covers security and defence, economic growth, sustainable development and people-to-people contacts. According to news agency BTA, options for exporting Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe will be examined, and the nuclear cooperation agreement between Canada and Euratom will be modernised.
On critical raw materials, the EU wants to facilitate European investment in Canadian deposits, with a focus on rare earths. According to EU data, imports of such materials from Canada rose 62% between 2024 and 2025. Trade in goods and services grew 80% between 2016 and 2025. A new digital trade agreement is planned. The CETA free trade agreement has only been applied provisionally since 2017 because not all member states have ratified it.
According to AFP, Canada will join the EU's 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine, initially with 500 million euros. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada could not become a full-fledged EU member because of its geographical location, but the EU wanted to bring the country "as close as possible". According to AFP, both sides have been hit by US tariffs and territorial threats from Washington.