LA MALBAIE, Que. – The European Union’s foreign policy chief says tariffs between Western countries only serve China’s interests and is calling for higher defence spending to keep Russia in check.
“If the United States is having a trade war with Canada, Mexico or the European Union, then who is really benefiting from this is China,” Kaja Kallas said in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press.
Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia, is overseeing the EU’s approach to an alarming new geopolitical climate — one where the U.S. hints at scaling back its commitment to defending NATO allies and pursues a trade war against Europe and Canada.
“We are trying to keep a cool head,” Kallas said.
“We are also ready to really defend our interests — but it would be our wish that we didn’t have to deal with this, because we have so many other problems.”
Those problems include the first large-scale land war in Europe in decades, budget crunches that have governments across the continent struggling to balance their books, and a spike in severe weather events caused by climate change.
Those threats have led Europe to look to Canada for help in shoring up supply chains for everything from food to energy — areas covered under a free-trade deal that has been in effect since 2017.
“We definitely need to deepen our co-operation in those areas, especially in terms of economic security,” Kallas said.
Europe is also looking to Canada for co-operation on military matters.
Earlier this month, outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to London for a European security conference on maintaining allies’ support for Ukraine’s defence.
Europeans are anxiously watching reports about a possible ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and some countries have pledged to send troops and jets to maintain peace and prevent further Russian incursions.
Canada and the EU have been talking for nearly a year about a possible security and defence partnership.
The pact could be similar to ones Brussels has signed with Japan and Korea that cover joint naval exercises, or its agreements with non-EU countries on underwater infrastructure.
Kallas said that the partnership with Canada would involve “important co-operation when it comes to the defence industry” and setting standards on “investments in defence, so that we work together and are ready to help each other.”
She added that Europeans have no interest in creating “parallel structures” to replicate the NATO military alliance.
“The stronger Canada is, and the stronger European allies in NATO are, the stronger NATO is,” Kallas said.
Kallas’s home country, once part of the Soviet Union, has had a tumultuous relationship with Russia for decades.
She said Canadians need to understand that Russia is their next-door neighbour in the Arctic, a region that is growing in geopolitical importance due to its trade routes and critical raw materials.
“Russia is an existential threat, not only to European security but actually global security,” she said.
“When we allow Russia to get away with the land-grabs and attacks that they are doing on Ukraine, then everything is in danger.”
Kallas said Europe and its peers need to spend more on defence. Many NATO countries, Canada included, are falling short of NATO’s defence spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.
Some NATO allies have discussed higher defence spending targets of 2.5 or three per cent of GDP. Kallas noted that Russia’s defence spending amounts to nine per cent of its GDP.
“If we are not investing in our defence enough, then they will want to use this military force again,” she said.
“The only thing that deters them is strength — whether we are strong enough so that they don’t test us.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2025.
