BRUSSELS: Buffeted by tariffs and threats from Washington, the European Union and Canada are to discuss drawing closer together on Wednesday, the latest sign of a wider Brussels push to diversify trade away from the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to hold talks with top EU officials in the Belgian capital after US President Donald Trump imposed painful 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, Trudeau said Canada would “be working with our international partners and friends” as it weighs how to address Trump’s tariffs, promising a “firm and clear” response if need be.
Trudeau’s visit comes as the European Union, faced with a rocky patch in relations with Washington, has moved to position itself as a reliable trade partner for other countries looking to do business.
“The situation is not going to get better,“ Ignacio Garcia, an international trade expert at Brussels think tank Bruegel, said of EU-US ties under Trump.
This leaves the EU “no other option” but to “invest in developing alternative markets”, he added.
The United States accounts for around 20 percent and 77 percent of EU and Canadian exports respectively.
Trump has already signalled that additional tariffs on automobiles, pharmaceuticals and computer chips are coming, and has publicly mused about annexing Canada and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.
Reliable charm
Bracing for a trade war, Brussels has been working to broaden its trade horizons since the Republican won back the White House in November.
In the wake of Trump’s re-election, the bloc has announced a strengthened trade deal with Mexico, the resumption of talks on a free trade deal with Malaysia, and a new agreement with the South American bloc Mercosur.
It also struck a more conciliatory note towards China, and said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen’s new top team will visit India in its first trip abroad.
On Monday, Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU’s 27 member states, discussed deepening ties with South Africa, which is entangled in a spat of its own with Trump.
In a phone call with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Costa stressed Europe was a “reliable and predictable partner” — an implied juxtaposition to Trump’s volatility.
A day later he announced the “first-ever” EU-Central Asia summit for April after a call with Kazakhstan’s president.
As explained by a senior EU official last month, Brussels sees bolstering ties with other nations at the rough end of the US stick as common sense, and something to use as leverage with Washington.
“We can trade with the whole world. If you close your markets, we have other partners,“ the official said.
If not us, who?
Canada already has a free-trade agreement with the EU, credited with boosting bilateral merchandise trade by 60 percent since 2017.
The EU is now Canada’s second-largest export destination after the US, with bilateral trade worth 157.3 billion Canadian dollars (106 billion euros) in 2023.
“But can we do even more?” Trudeau, who is to step down in March, asked a summit of business, labour and government leaders last week.
The answer is yes, according to Philipp Lamprecht, of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) think tank.
Some aluminium producers in Quebec, who ship 90 percent of their output to the United States, are looking eastwards to ease the tariff pain.
“We could shift some volumes towards the European Union where there’s no tariffs and they are in need of metal,“ Jean Simard, president of the Aluminium Association of Canada, told AFP.
There is also talk of reviving plans to build pipelines and terminals allowing oil and gas extracted in western Canada to be shipped eastwards without having to pass through the United States.
But any such project would take years to complete.
A more immediate boon could come from fully implementing the Canada-EU deal (CETA), which is yet to be ratified by 10 European countries, including France, Italy and Poland.
This curtails its impact, stymies long-term investments, and sends a bad message to other potential trade suitors, Lamprecht said.
“If two trading partners such as the EU and Canada that are strong allies and very like-minded countries cannot manage to have cutting-edge, up-to-date, efficient and well-governed trade relations, then who can?” he said.
