EU relations with Canada
The EU and Canada are longstanding strategic partners sharing common values such as democracy, commitment to the rules-based international order as well as free and fair trade.
Political and economic cooperation
The EU and Canada have a longstanding political and economic partnership, underpinned by two major agreements signed in 2016: the strategic partnership agreement (SPA) and the comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA).
Building on the 1976 framework agreement for commercial and economic cooperation, these agreements provide the foundation for closer cooperation between the EU and Canada on bilateral and global challenges.
Strategic partnership agreement
The strategic partnership agreement enshrines the EU and Canada's shared democratic values and enhances political dialogue on a broad range of areas, including international peace and security, economic and sustainable development, justice, freedom and security.
The agreement was signed in 2016 and entered into provisional application in April 2017.
Comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA)
CETA strengthens economic ties between the EU and Canada. It reduces trade barriers, facilitates trade in goods and services and creates new opportunities for businesses and more predictable conditions for investors.
Under CETA, the EU and Canada eliminated tariffs on 98% of tariff lines and agreed to gradually remove almost all remaining tariffs. CETA was signed in 2016 and entered into provisional application in September 2017.
In 2025, EU-Canada trade in goods and services was worth around €130 billion, an increase of more than 80% compared to 2016.
Together, the EU and Canada make up almost one fifth of global GDP and approximately 19% of global trade in goods and services.
Trgovina između EU-a i Kanade: činjenice i brojke
Security and defence
At their summit on 23 June 2025, the EU and Canada signed a security and defence partnership. It provides a framework for deeper cooperation in areas such as crisis management, the defence industry, maritime security, military mobility, and cyber and hybrid threats. Canada is the first partner with which the EU has set up a dedicated annual security and defence dialogue.
Canada is the only non-European country to take part in Security Action for Europe (SAFE), the EU's €150 billion instrument supporting member states that invest in defence production through common procurement. An agreement concluded in 2026 allows Canadian defence companies and products to participate in member states' procurement under SAFE.
Partnerstva u području sigurnosti i obrane
Support for Ukraine
The European Union and Canada are strong supporters of Ukraine in the face of Russia's war of aggression. Canada has committed over $8.5 billion in military support and over $750 million for Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction.
The EU and Canada work together, along with G7 partners, to increase coordination on sanctions against Russia, their enforcement and export controls restrictions.
The EU and Canada are also jointly committed to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction efforts. Ukraine, Canada, the EU and other partners have established the G7 multi-agency donor coordination platform to address Ukraine's immediate and long-term needs.
Canada, together with Ukraine, co-chairs the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. The EU is a full member of this initiative. It brings together 47 governments and partners working to ensure that children deported and forcibly transferred by Russia can return home safely and rebuild their lives. According to Ukrainian authorities, more than 20 500 children have been taken since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in February 2022.
Environment and climate change
At the EU‑Canada summit in St John's on 24 November 2023, the EU and Canada established a green alliance. The alliance aims to step up cooperation on climate action and environmental protection, both bilaterally and in international fora.
It covers six priority areas:
climate action
environmental and ocean protection
energy transition
green industrial transformation
research and innovation
climate and biodiversity finance
The alliance contains a number of concrete commitments. Both partners are legally bound to reach climate neutrality by 2050. They intend to keep sharing experience on carbon pricing and promoting it in other countries.
On energy, both the EU and Canada back a global push to accelerate the phase‑out of unabated fossil fuels, end new coal‑fired power generation, and work on international standards and certification for hydrogen.
On nature, they commit to ending plastic pollution by 2040 and protecting at least 30% of the world's oceans, and reaffirm their commitment to suspend offshore oil and gas extraction in Arctic waters. The text also deepens cooperation on critical raw materials value chains.
Digital, science and technology
The EU and Canada have longstanding partnership in science and research and technological development, underpinned by the agreement for scientific and technological cooperation, which entered into force in 1996.
In July 2024, Canada became associated to Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation programme. This allows Canadian researchers and organisations to participate on equal terms with their EU counterparts in collaborative research projects.
Cooperation also extends to digital technologies and innovation through the EU-Canada digital partnership, launched in November 2023. The partnership aims to promote a secure, inclusive and human-centric digital economy, with a focus on areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, cybersecurity and digital connectivity.
In June 2025, the EU and Canadian leaders also agreed to work towards a digital trade agreement to further strengthen their economic ties in the digital sector.
Partners for multilateralism
The EU and Canada share a strong commitment to upholding and advancing multilateralism and the rules-based international order. Through close cooperation at both bilateral and multilateral levels, they work together to strengthen democracy, promote peace and security, defend human rights and the rule of law and support effective multilateralism.
The EU and Canada are both co-sponsors of the partners for multilateralism initiative, launched in September 2026, in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly. The signatories of the initiative reaffirmed that the multilateral system founded on the UN Charter remains indispensable, but that it should be renewed and reformed to be more effective, representative, inclusive and fit for purpose.
The EU and Canada cooperate closely within the G7 and G20 to advance shared priorities, including global economic stability, sustainable growth and climate action, and to coordinate responses to pressing global challenges.
Multilateralizam
See also
Solidarnost EU-a s Ukrajinom
Uloga EU-a u globalnoj trgovini
Trgovinski sporazumi EU-a
Posljednja izmjena: 21. listopada 2026.
