MONTREAL, March 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - With Canada's economy and even
sovereignty under unprecedented threat from its southern neighbour the United
States, its new leader has embarked on a trans-Atlantic trip to strengthen
ties with traditional friends France and Britain.

Just days into his mandate, Prime Minister Mark Carney faces threats on three
fronts: A trade war with the Washington, US President Donald Trump's threats
to annex his country, and looming domestic elections.

But, despite the tension at home, he is expecting warm welcomes on three days
of visits to Paris, London and Iqaluit in Canada's northernmost territory,
Nunavut.

"Canada was built upon a union of peoples -- indigenous, French, and
British," Carney said, in a statement released before he set off from Ottawa
on Sunday, two days after he was sworn in, replacing 10-year veteran prime
minister Justin Trudeau as leader of the G7, NATO and Commonwealth power.

"My visit to France and the United Kingdom will strengthen trade, commercial,
and defence ties with two of our strongest and most reliable partners, and my
visit to Nunavut will be an opportunity to bolster Canada's Arctic
sovereignty and security, and our plan to unlock the North's full economic
potential."

Carney did not say why Canada might be in need of "reliable partners", but he
didn't need to -- Trump's imposition of an escalating raft of import tariffs
on Canadian goods has threatened to trigger a recession, and his scorn for
Canadian sovereignty sent jitters through the former ally.

Opinion polls show a large majority of Canadian voters reject Trump's
argument that their country would be better off as the "51st state of the
United States," but the trade war is a threat to the economy of the vast
country of 41 million people, which has long enjoyed a close US partnership.

On Monday, 60-year-old Carney will be in Paris for a working dinner with
French President Emmanuel Macron and discuss how to, according to the
Canadian leader's office, "build stronger economic, commercial, and defence
ties."

According to the Elysee, the two leaders "will discuss Russia's war of
aggression against Ukraine, international crises, and projects at the heart"
of the "strategic partnership" between Paris and Ottawa.

- 'Security and sovereignty' -

Canada, France and Britain are among the NATO members that have maintained
strong support for Ukraine's beleaguered government and military since
Russia's all-out invasion in February 2022, even as Trump's US administration
has bullied Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow.

London and Paris are putting together plans for a coalition security force in
Ukraine and looking for allies.

France is Canada's 11th-largest trading partner and Britain its third at a
time when Trump's tariffs and Canadian retaliatory measures are threatening
trade with its huge southern neighbour -- destination of three-quarters of
Canada's exports.

But Canada also has a "Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement" with the
European Union, which includes France, and is a member of the Comprehensive
and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which now also includes
Britain.

After Paris, Carney heads for London, where he once worked as governor of the
Bank Of England, for talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles
III, the monarch who is head of state in both Britain and Canada.

In his first speech as prime minister, Carney said: "Security is a priority
for this government, reinforcing our security, as is diversifying our trading
and commercial relationships, of course, with both Europe and the United
Kingdom."

On his return leg, Carney will touch down in Iqaluit, in Nunavut, the
Canadian territory closest to the Danish autonomous country of Greenland --
another Trump target for annexation -- to "reaffirm Canada's Arctic security
and sovereignty."