Canadá recebe Costa e Von der Leyen em cimeira em Montreal

© MICK TSIKAS/EPA

© MICK TSIKAS/EPA

Mark Carney has become one of the most watched figures on the international stage. The Canadian prime minister draws admiration and recognition for the way he has steered his country amid trade hostilities with the United States; also for the alliances he seeks to forge with other middle powers as the geopolitical landscape shifts. His predecessor, Justin Trudeau, also enjoyed high levels of popularity, though for different reasons. In fact, fame has followed Trudeau since birth, being the son of another prime minister — Pierre Trudeau, who served in the 1980s. Even though Justin Trudeau’s final years in politics were marked by an unstoppable decline from the summit, he has comfortably settled into a new stage of his life, and has not abandoned the public spotlight.

© Gilbert Flores (Variety via Getty Images)

© YURI GRIPAS / POOL/EPA
An EU-Canada summit in Montréal will be the main event this week with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council counterpart António Costa represent the bloc at a two-day summit starting on Thursday (29 October), hosted by Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
Carney, who has repeatedly spoken about the need for so-called ‘middle powers’ to step up their economic and security cooperation to avoid being squeezed by the United States and China, has emerged as one of the EU’s closest allies since the start of US president Donald Trump’s trade tariff wars last year.
Canada already has one of the most ambitious bilateral trade agreements with the EU and has secured access to defence procurement contracts as part of the EU’s new multi-billion euro defence fund.
And in September at her State of the Union address, von der Leyen offered the prospect of ‘associate membership’ of the bloc to Canada. Talks in Montréal are likely to cover trade, energy, critical minerals, defence, digital technologies and economic security.
In particular, the draft summit communique proposes a feasibility study on long-term Canadian LNG exports to Europe.
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