Canada's Prime Minister Meets Irish Leader Ahead of G7 Summit

Canada's prime minister met Ireland's leader on Saturday and said middle-power countries should combine forces rather than compete for favor with the United States ahead of the Group of Seven summit. The prime minister told an audience at Trinity College in Dublin that Canada and the European Union together have more than twice the population of the United States, a similarly sized economy, and a collective defense budget twice that of China.

He described the choice facing smaller nations as one between seeking favor from great powers or building a third path through partnerships.

The prime minister visited Ireland's leader earlier on Saturday and France's president on Friday. He also spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, where he declared the global rules-based order over and condemned coercion by great powers.

At a joint news conference, the prime minister said the new world order will be built starting with Europe and that Canada is transforming its cooperation with the bloc. Canada became the first non-European member of the European Union's SAFE defense procurement mechanism in February.

Trade tensions continue between Canada and the United States, with a scheduled July 1 review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The U.S. president said this week he may not renew the deal. Canada's trade minister is scheduled to meet the U.S. trade representative at the summit.

The prime minister said he does not believe the United States seeks major changes to the agreement and noted that about 85 percent of Canadian exports to the United States remain tariff-free under the current pact. A senior U.S. administration official said the United States has received outreach from Canada for further trade talks but does not expect major breakthroughs at the summit.

The official described Canada's recent rollback of a regulatory requirement on foreign streaming platforms as a positive step. The prime minister has set a goal to double Canada's non-U.S. exports over the next decade, citing a chill in investment from trade tensions.