Prime Minister Mark Carney is pitching a new alliance with the European Union as a means to protect their sovereignty from the control of great powers – suggesting the two must work together to build independent data and compute power, payment systems, defence industries, and energy and critical mineral supplies.

One day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that he could consider a proposal to make Canada an associate member of the European Union a hostile act, the Prime Minister is making it clear that he views a closer relationship as a way of shoring up vulnerabilities.

His speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, didn’t directly name the United States, though there was no doubt the country was at the top of Mr. Carney’s mind. Yet the Prime Minister insisted that what he is proposing is a way to strengthen Canada and Europe’s sovereignty rather than build a rival.

“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” Mr. Carney said.

“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”