EU alliance with Canada shows strength requires continental scale

European Union leaders are meeting in Montréal to take their partnership with Canada to a deeper, broader level. The summit takes place under the long shadow cast by Donald Trump's trade and foreign policies, which have prompted both sides to seek more resilient global arrangements.

Sceptics of European integration argue that individual nations can adapt more nimbly to international shifts by pursuing their own bilateral agreements.

Yet no single European state commands the economic weight necessary to negotiate on equal terms during global realignments. By combining 27 national markets into a single trading bloc, Europe presents an attractive, stable partner capable of protecting shared economic interests.

This cooperation demonstrates that strategic autonomy is a practical necessity rather than an institutional abstraction. Europe can build balanced global alliances when it acts from a position of collective strength.