In September, the European Union, or EU, launched a proposal for Canada to become an associate member of the EU. The prospect was first stated by the European Commission’s President, and was welcomed by Canada’s ruling class, with a Canada-EU summit planned to be held at the end of this October. Trump’s response to this move was to declare that the EU allowing Canada to become an associate member could be a “hostile act”, then floating the possibility of imposing tariffs against the EU in retaliation.
The appeal for associate member status in the EU would create a new category of membership crafted for Canada specifically, requiring amendment of the existing EU treaties, which would need to be unanimously ratified by EU member countries. If this process is successful, Canada would be the first EU-affiliated nation that does not hold any territory in Europe, other than Cyprus. For the EU’s part, a closer relationship with Canadian Imperialism would grant it a powerful military and economic ally, especially in the energy sector. A Canada-EU partnership would create a major imperialist bloc, in competition with the U.S. and China.
For decades Canadian imperialism served as a lapdog to U.S. imperialism, participating in U.S.-initiated wars of aggression against Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. Just as in the U.S., Canada was formed through the genocide and enslavement of indigenous peoples in order to colonize enormous swathes of land. This processes served the mass transformation and generation of private property and profit upon which the harsh oppression and exploitation of indigenous peoples continues to rest.
This long period of collaboration between the two imperialist powers began deteriorating in the second Trump government. The U.S. has made repeated aggressive moves towards Canada, most visibly in threatening Canada with either the imposition of trade tariffs, or annexation as the 51st U.S. state. In September, Trump announced increased tariffs and bans on Canadian imports on the same day that Canada put into effect a retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports. The U.S. also announced this year that it will not renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade agreement which replaced the earlier North American Free Trade Agreement, and came into effect in 2020 under Trump’s first government.
Canada’s ruling class is using the fallout with the U.S. as a means to advance its own imperialist ventures, seeing the EU as a favorable bloc to maneuver within. As another part of this shift, Canada invited various financial capital monopolies to participate in the first “Canada Investment Summit” in September. Alberta’s far-right United Conservative Party, or UCP, which holds a majority in the province’s legislature, has broken with Canada’s Liberal Party national leadership over the deteriorating relations with the United States. The UCP government has instead sought to reaffirm its ties with the U.S., rising to a level that Alberta will soon hold a referendum on the issue of the province seceding from Canada.
The contradiction between the U.S. and EU imperialist blocs, which previously were in a phase of collusion, are also becoming sharper in the second Trump government. On September 22, Trump stated that his government was considering a ban on its diesel exports. Diesel prices globally are currently at a record high due to the U.S. wars of aggression in the West Asia, and the ongoing war in Ukraine which has resulted in Russia cutting diesel exports. With regards energy system composition, Europe is fare more reliant on diesel for its economy than the United States, and relies on imports for 20% of its supply. The remainder, which is refined domestically, is itself dependent on importing crude oil, mainly from the U.S. and the West Asia. Domestically produced crude oil represents only 3.6% of the supply
The war between Ukraine and Russia has also become a matter of division between the U.S. and Canada/EU. As a part of these ongoing struggles, the U.S. has raised its potential withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, the military alliance uniting the U.S. and Canada with Western European powers.
Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy, or NSS, stated that America will “cultivate resistance” within Europe, as a response to the perceived issues such as “migration policies that are transforming the continent” and “loss of national identities”, which are narratives used by fascist groups in Europe which the United States is seeking partnership with. The slogan “Make Europe Great Again” encapsulating the strategy. The 2025 NSS also sought for Europe to “take primary responsibility for its own defence” and to open its markets to U.S. goods and services; the U.S. is currently in a trade deficit with the EU in these areas. Trump’s strategy also includes asserting total U.S. dominance over the Western Hemisphere, an extension of the revitalized Monroe Doctrine, which has been materialized in the trade war with Canada and various aggressive actions in Cuba, Venezuela, and the open Caribbean Sea.
Under imperialism, collusion is temporary and relative, while competition for redivision is the long-term, absolute trend, as different imperialist powers always seek to expand their spheres of influence to maximize their profits. Because imperialism must continually seek to control new markets, wars of aggression against semi-colonies and world wars between the competing imperialist powers are inevitable. The only path to ending reactionary war is to struggle for the complete overthrow of imperialism worldwide, and to replace that imperialist system with a global revolutionary socialist one.
[Image Source: Ahmet Sel/Anadolu]
