Canadian firms export some $19 billion worth of goods annually to the European Union (EU). Sales within Europe by Canadian-owned affiliates are four or five times higher than that. Through its plants in Quebec and Germany, Canadian aluminum giant Alcan supplies most metal required by European automakers BMW and Audi.

New levels of cooperation on investment and trade are bringing Canada and the European Union closer.

As the EU undergoes the greatest enlargement of its 47-year history, Canadians and Europeans are cementing relations. "We've taken the strategic relationship between Canada and the EU to another level," remarked Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, president of the European Council, at the close of a biannual summit between Canada and the EU held in Ottawa in March.

The summit, attended by Mr. Ahern, European Commission President Romano Prodi and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, reinforced cooperation between Europe and Canada. The leaders adopted a Partnership Agenda between Canada and the EU on a wide range of joint interests. They set the framework for a future trade and investment agreement that will make doing business between the two progressively easier.

Canada, in fact, was the first non-European country to sign a framework agreement on political cooperation in 1976 with the then European Economic Community. This year Canada and France mark 400 years of historic relations, dating to cartographer Samuel de Champlain's arrival to establish the first French settlement in 1604.

Why the EU?

Why is Canada looking to the EU as a major trading partner? It's where the trade winds are blowing. It was ironic that on May Day of central Europe's not-so-distant communist past, three countries formerly part of the old Soviet Union were welcomed into the EU. The addition of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, along with five former Soviet satellites—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia—as well as the Mediterranean island states of Cyprus and Malta, has enlarged Europe in an unprecedented manner. The 10 new members boost the EU's population by 20 percent to 450 million ("Canada World View," Foreign Affairs Canada, Issue 22, Summer 2004). It is emerging as a huge trading powerhouse.

The EU is Canada's second-largest trading partner, though this is a distant second to the United States, with two-way trade less than 10 percent of that with the United States. Yet in 2003 investment with Europe rose 25 percent while it fell 5 percent south of the border. Many well-known Canadian firms thrive in Europe: Alcan, Bombardier and Magna International. Some 50 percent of Alcan's business is in Europe, compared with 35 percent in North America. Bombardier and Nortel Networks are the largest employers in Northern Ireland.

Canada is seen by Europe as a leader in fiscal responsibility, governance, the integration of immigrants into society and technological innovation. A report published in May by Accenture Inc., an international technology-consulting firm, named Canada as the world's most electronically advanced government.

Geography and membership in the North American Free Trade Area are also important advantages, particularly for European firms looking to Canada as a gateway to the United States. And many countries—like Norway—view Canada as "compassionate," specializing in peace-making. Canada has distinctive ideas of peace, order and good government. They define national interest and in a chaotic world, other countries see these values positively.

Canadian-U.S. differences

Canadians are entwined with the United States, from "snowbirds" (people who go to warmer climates for the winter months) to immigration to American radio and television. Especially sports! During the recent Stanley Cup play-offs, one commentator, remarking on how Canadians were now cheering for Calgary as a Canadian team, said, "In fact there are more Canadians playing with Tampa Bay than with the Calgary Flames."

But there are differences. Although inextricably linked with the United States by geography and economics, Canada has voted with the EU on 50 out of 52 United Nations General Assembly security resolutions. The United States has voted with Europe only 21 times. Canada has been dismayed by "friendly-fire" fatalities of Canadian troops by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. For Canadian farmers, the border remains closed to beef exports, over the issue of mad cow disease.

Then, too, there is disquiet over interrogation and abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The scorn heaped upon the U.S. military is deflected by Canadians but hard to avoid because Canada is in North America. Such criticisms of the United States cause Canadian leaders, like former Prime Minister Jean ChrŽtien, to often say when promoting Canada abroad, "We are North Americans, but we are not Americans." And in Europe these days, that's a considerable distinction.

Prophetic trade winds blowing

The trade winds are blowing and Canada is being pushed in the direction they blow. Jeremy Kinsman, Canada's ambassador to the European Union, says, "Succeeding in Europe isn't a strategy of choice. It's a Canadian imperative."

As merchants of the EU build their wealth and luxury, Canada and other nations will be forced, for economic survival, to sail in her direction (Revelation 18:9-15). For more on the prophetic significance of these trends, read our free brochures The Book of Revelation Unveiled and The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.

We watch daily the events and combination of prophetic forces that will increasingly toss our people to and fro from one false economic hope to another. WNP