U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he will retaliate against the European Union if it proceeds with a European Commission proposal to make Canada the bloc’s first associate member, threatening tariffs and broad limits on trade.

Speaking to reporters while travelling to an event in North Carolina, Trump said that if the plan was intended as a hostile move, the United States would impose “very serious” tariffs or stop trading with Europe on multiple goods. He also described the proposal as “laughable”, adding that while he would accept it if it reflected good intentions, the United States would respond with heavy tariffs if it did not.

Von der Leyen Proposes Canada as First Associate Member

The EU proposal was set out by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday during her annual State of the Union address, which was attended by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Von der Leyen said the aim was to deepen ties among allies amid what she described as an “openly hostile world”. The announcement is framed as part of an effort to strengthen cooperation at a time when the EU faces heightened security risks linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Trade Tensions With the United States, China

The EU has also been dealing with trade frictions involving the United States and challenges connected to China’s growing assertiveness. Canada, like the EU, has faced tension with Washington since Trump returned to the White House, with tariffs imposed on tens of billions of dollars worth of cross-border trade.

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Canada Backed by EU Chief as First 'Associate Member'

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Earlier this month, Carney said he was pursuing a “unique alliance” with the EU as relations between Ottawa and Washington have deteriorated. In contrast, the EU has generally resisted flexible alliances that carry no formal legal status.

An EU diplomat said the commission’s proposal had come as a surprise and that it was unclear what associate membership would practically mean. The diplomat added there were concerns the commission chief was promising more than it could deliver.

Carney to Address European Parliament

Carney is scheduled to address the European Parliament on Thursday morning. His appearance comes as the EU seeks to consolidate arrangements with partners, while the United States signals it could respond if it views the association plan as antagonistic.

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17 September 2026

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Trump's USA now the world pariah state.

He who laughs first ...

Does not necesarily laugh last !

Honestly, never saw this coming ☝️🙈

Trump calling the EU-Canada proposal "laughable" is pure ego.

The EU isn't being hostile, it's diversifying ties on AI, minerals, and defence because Trump's tariff threats make the US unreliable.

Trump responds to allies acting independently like it's a personal betrayal, threatening tariffs that would hurt American exporters more than anyone else.

And next up is

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll I'll I'll I might even blow your house down.

I'm for Canada and even Iran and the Houthis.

Canada should shut down oil exports and electricity to the US.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by FlorC

Those tacos sure smell good!!elbows up Canada!!

With all the trillions of dollars that Trump has pouring into the US, they don’t need to trade with anybody else. They have everything they need because they are the centre of the universe, have the world’s best economy, have no inflation, the best military, the deepest respect on the world stage and the greatest president that ever lived!! MAGA(make America go away) Forever!!!!

Mark Carney just want to trade with countries that have better manners. What's wrong with that?

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Eric Loh
add word

He sounds a little desperate,,,,,,,,,,Where's all my leverage gone.

Just now, soalbundy said:

He sounds a little desperate,,,,,,,,,,Where's all my leverage gone.

And about to get a whole lot worse in a few months time. The mongrel dog will be no more then a mute figurehead.

Trump and lots of Americans don’t seem to understand trade. Having a deficit just means you need more imported products than countries you trade with. It’s as though they think they’re giving favors and money away. Things made cheaper elsewhere will always be imported. Stopping trade doesn’t make America win the trade war. Tariffs increase the price for consumers not the country of origin. Trump and a lot of Americans seem to think they run the world and everyone needs to jump to their demands. They’re finding out quick that America is only 13% of the world markets!

It’s all up to you the good citizens of USA. This guy has nihilistic tendencies. Nothing matters to him outside his personal interest.

It would be nice if we could at least laugh about TRUMP, the moron.

By now you could burst into tears over so much stupidity, arrogance, vanity, hourly progressing dementia and over his <deleted>ty diapers.

A single day cannot go by without this garbage man demonstrating his hatred and intolerance of any sort of criticism or resistance of his mighty Imperial rule.

Resistance. Just say no to the pig.

when Trump makes demands. When the other side does not give him what he wants, he escalates with bombastic threats of crippling punishment. The other side surrenders.

Except that Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, evidently has not read the script. His refusal to buckle in the face of Mr. Trump’s trade ultimatum even at the cost of retaliatory tariffs has flipped the narrative of the president’s second term. Instead of giving in, Mr. Carney is testing whether defiance is a viable strategy against Mr. Trump.

The age of capitulation that defined Mr. Trump’s return to office may be starting to fade. World leaders and domestic institutions are, in some cases at least, showing less willingness to submit to Mr. Trump’s will. European leaders have refused to join his war with Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel flatly rejected his Gaza plan. Gulf Arab states forced him to abandon plans to charge a shipping toll in the Strait of Hormuz.

Universities and law firms are rebuffing his directives rather than signing on the bottom line. Bond markets are rebelling against his fiscal policies. Even the ABC network, whose $16 million payment to settle a Trump lawsuit was seen as an early example of yielding to the president, has discovered that it did not buy peace and is now suing his administration for threatening its broadcast licenses.

But even among Republicans, there are some worrisome signs for the president. Although he has successfully punished several prominent Republican lawmakers he deemed disloyal by rallying his MAGA base to defeat them in party primaries this year, G.O.P. voters have rejected Mr. Trump’s endorsed candidates in 10 nominating contests, including six in August alone.

Polls show his support among Republicans slipping.

“I think that recent weeks have been somewhat of an inflection point,” said Norm Eisen, a former Obama White House lawyer and founder of a group called the Democracy Defenders Fund, who has been waging multiple court fights against Mr. Trump. “At home and abroad, pro-democracy forces and everybody else are standing up to him with much more widespread vigor.”

To the extent that there has been a shift, Mr. Eisen said, it owes in part to overreaching by Mr. Trump. “Trump has been his own worst enemy,” he said.

“Greenland was a turning point, in part because it was an attack on the sovereignty of Europe itself and Europeans began to understand at that point there was simply no end to Trump’s rapaciousness and to his demands,” said Jeremy Shapiro, a former State Department official now at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Leaders across the world are watching. Mr. Shapiro said they “mostly now believe that backing down in the face of Trumpian aggression or insults only encourages more demands.” He added: “I think Carney is setting the template for how they will respond to future Trumpian tariff threats.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/politics/trump-polls-tariffs-carney.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

, Madison Square Garden:

To make her president would be a gamble with the lives of millions and millions of people. She would get us into World War III. We’re very close to World War III. (October 27, 2024)

Trump said the country was headed toward a “third world war” under Biden and then added And she is worse. (October 11, 2024)

Trump said of the Ukraine situation:

“You’re going to end up in World War III and it’s going to be a bad one.”

He presented himself as the candidate who could “prevent World War III. (September 2024)

It's a very long march. 😀

I struggle to see how this proposal will benefit Canada.

He still does not understand that tariffs belong to Congress, not the President, even though he has been told so by a judge. Congress, meanwhile, needs to grow a pair.

55 minutes ago, Brettoj said:

Trump and lots of Americans don’t seem to understand trade. Having a deficit just means you need more imported products than countries you trade with. It’s as though they think they’re giving favors and money away. Things made cheaper elsewhere will always be imported. Stopping trade doesn’t make America win the trade war. Tariffs increase the price for consumers not the country of origin. Trump and a lot of Americans seem to think they run the world and everyone needs to jump to their demands. They’re finding out quick that America is only 13% of the world markets!

He is even bribing them with their own money,5000 dollars if you vote for ne in the midterms where do these people think the money is coming from Farther Christmas.

28 minutes ago, Brettoj said:

Trump and lots of Americans don’t seem to understand trade. Having a deficit just means you need more imported products than countries you trade with. It’s as though they think they’re giving favors and money away. Things made cheaper elsewhere will always be imported. Stopping trade doesn’t make America win the trade war. Tariffs increase the price for consumers not the country of origin. Trump and a lot of Americans seem to think they run the world and everyone needs to jump to their demands. They’re finding out quick that America is only 13% of the world markets!

Americans are living on past glories, they used to be the world's taskmasters but while they aren't yet irrelevant they are slowly drifting in that direction. It's understandable, the British took many decades to release themselves from the idea of empire, today only a few geriatrics think along those lines, we realized that no country is an independent island, sovereignty is just a nice catch word like Brexit and 'take our country back' all well and good until America castigates you for not spending enough on defense and so you up the spending even though you can't afford it, or you are threatened from tariffs by a bully nation because you displeased them, then sovereignty goes out the window. At the moment America is menopausal, all hot flushes and bad tempered.

1 hour ago, Brettoj said:

Having a deficit just means you need more imported products than countries you trade with.

In reality is there is often NO TRADE DEFICIT (ie., Canada) when the value of US services exported to foreign countries are considered.

What is actually laughable is the way Trump has managed to alienate the vast majority of the US’s closest allies in less than 18 months, and to turn the USA into a state where armed and masked thugs can act with impunity, kicking down doors without warrants, arresting and deporting people willy-nilly (American citizens included) and even killing people in the streets of American cities.

20 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he will retaliate against the European Union if it proceeds with a European Commission proposal to make Canada the bloc’s first associate member, threatening tariffs and broad limits on trade.

If it's as "laughable" as he says, why the need to threaten retaliation?

Trump has certainly done a great job with alienating pretty much each and every ally the U.S. has.

“Laughable”, yeah, that’s how the rest of the world feels about your entire existence, Donnie boy! You’re the laughing stock of the world! Can’t wait until November!

He also described the proposal as “laughable”, adding that while he would accept it if it reflected good intentions, the United States would respond with heavy tariffs if it did not.

Good intentions to him means "do whatever I say"

Laughable?

He who laughs last laughs best.