Republican senator warns Carney against tightening Canada’s links to European Union

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told CBC News on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that she believes Canada's moves to strengthen ties with Europe will make it harder for the Carney government to reach a deal with the Trump administration on tariffs and trade. (James Young/CBC)

Mike Crawley (new window), Katie Simpson (new window) · CBC News ·

A long-serving Republican senator from a border state is warning Prime Minister Mark Carney against strengthening Canada's economic and political ties to the European Union.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — facing a re-election battle in November's midterms in a state highly dependent on cross-border trade — says it's unfortunate that Canada is turning toward the EU in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

That doesn't help rebuild the good relationship that we once had and that I want us to have again, Collins told CBC News correspondent Katie Simpson at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

In a speech earlier Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, with Carney present, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe wants to open the door for Canada to become an "associate member" of the EU (new window).

(It's not clear what that would mean, as associate member is not currently a legal designation in the EU. Although Canada's ambassador to the EU says the two sides are a ways away from formalizing anything, Carney has said he wants a unique alliance with Europe.)

Collins says she believes Canada deepening its ties with Europe could make it harder for the Carney government to reach a deal with the Trump administration to end the escalating trade war.

I believe that both Canada and the United States should return to the bargaining table. I do not support this tariff war, Collins said.

WATCH | What Europe's top official has in mind for Canada:

EU chief opens door to Canada becoming associate member

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed opening a path for Canada to become the European Union's first associate member, a status that doesn't currently exist.

Collins has long tried to distance herself from Trump's tariff policies, in part because Canada accounts for roughly two-thirds of Maine's imports and about 40 per cent of its exports.

She claimed credit last week when the Trump administration announced it was exempting cement and road salt — two products Maine imports from Canada in significant quantities — from its list of Canadian goods facing new tariffs of 50 per cent.

'Not in the interest of our country'

Collins's comments come amid growing signs of unease among some Republicans in the U.S. Congress over Trump's trade tactics toward Canada, particularly as the Nov. 3 midterm elections (new window) grow nearer.

The Republicans hold narrow majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and stand to lose control of Congress if the Democrats can flip a handful of districts or states.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana who has occasionally broken with Trump on policies, told CBC News he's opposed to the trade war.

I think it is wrong to have a trade war with Canada. It is not in the interest of our country to have a trade war with Canada, Kennedy said.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware says it will be a tall order to halt Trump's trade war on Canada even if the Democrats win the midterms.

We won't be able to reverse his direction immediately, but at least with a new majority in Congress, should we be successful in the November elections, Canadians will begin to recognize their neighbours again, Coons told CBC News.

Coons says he has spoken with personal friends in Carney's cabinet about action that he and other members of Congress could take to win back allies in Canada.

He says he's working on a bipartisan trip to Canada by American lawmakers to say, we hear you, we get it, we're acting.