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SAINT-PIERRE, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (AP) -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron moved Sunday to deepen a strategic partnership spanning space, defense, energy and business, another step in Canada's accelerating turn toward Europe as relations with the United States deteriorate.
Carney said the countries will task their space agencies and defense ministries to develop and share infrastructure, including launch systems and ground-based reception facilities. They also agreed to expand cooperation in energy, telecommunications, climate resilience and economic development.
The meeting comes days after Carney embraced the prospect of Canada becoming the European Union's first associate member and argued that deeper ties with Europe would make Canada less vulnerable to economic coercion by any single country.
"Canada and Europe will build an alliance for the future that will strengthen our collective resilience so we can live our lives as we choose based on the values that we share," Carney said Sunday.
Macron called Carney's visit a "historic moment," saying that amid global turmoil, the two countries were affirming "our sovereignty, our freedom to decide" and their determination to build closer ties.
Macron also backed Canada's future involvement in the European Union.
U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, demands for economic concessions and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have pushed the Canadian government to reduce its dependence on its neighbor and pursue deeper economic, security and political relationships with Europe.