EU, Canada strengthen alliance amid US rift

MONTREAL, Oct 31: The EU and Canada announced an alliance Friday aimed at cementing their own relations in the face of President Donald Trump's moves to tear up US ties with its old partners.

Canada agreed to contribute to a 90-billion-euro ($103 billion) support loan for Ukraine and work closer with Brussels on anything from critical minerals to artificial intelligence, after a two-day summit in Montreal.

"The world's becoming more dangerous and divided. Our societies are being shaken by new storms," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told a press conference, mentioning eroding democratic norms and "the weaponization of trade."

"Together, Canada and the European Union are anchoring the ground. Anchoring our ground to uphold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can all thrive," he said after talks with EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa.

Already sharing a free trade agreement, Canada and the EU have sought to move closer together since Trump's shock return to power.

Both Canada and the EU have been hit with US tariffs and territorial threats.

In Montreal, they sketched out a two-tier partnership that von der Leyen, the European Commission president, stressed was "not against anyone else, but for our common strength."�" AFP