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French President Emmanuel Macron hailed France’s relationship with Canada during a trip to Saint Pierre and Miquelon this weekend.
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Macron is visiting the French overseas collectivity from 19 to 21 September and is due to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney there on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters from the archipelago, which sits just off the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Macron said the goal of the visit was to help the territory “turn a new page” and gently pushed back on suggestions that the trip was intended to make a statement.
“We shouldn’t be so obsessed with sending messages,” he said, adding that France had “close friends” including Canada in the region.
On the planned meeting with Carney, Macron said he saw it as “a very strong gesture of friendship” and pointed to the Canadian leader’s blossoming relationship with Brussels.
He also noted Canada’s substantial reserves of critical raw materials and rare earth elements, as well as its liquefied natural gas production. He said France and the EU would be seeking contracts and arrangements to secure supplies of strategic minerals and LNG for Europe.
It comes after US President Donald Trump hit out at Ottawa and the EU following European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s announcement that Canada could become the bloc’s first “associate member.”
Trump called the idea “laughable” but warned that if the move went ahead and he considered it “at all a hostile act,” then he would put “very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things.”
Earlier this month, Trump also posted an image on his Truth Social account showing a map of North America, including Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Greenland, marked with the US flag.
The US and Denmark announced on Friday that they had reached an agreement over Greenland, with Trump saying the deal would give Washington “permanent control” of the island’s security.
Carney
Carney is due to arrive in Saint Pierre and Miquelon at around 12:30 pm local time, according to his office.
He will then attend a “working lunch” with Macron before the pair take part in a wreath-laying ceremony. They will later deliver a joint statement before Carney heads to Ottawa.
Macron is due to travel on to New York for the UN General Assembly next week – where Trump’s Greenland security deal is also expected to be signed.
In a post on X on Saturday, Macron said he was “very proud and happy” to be in Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
“The ocean separates us, but what truly unites us are our values, a shared destiny, and the Republic,” he wrote.
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