Canada Looks to Europe: What Could It Mean for Scotland and the UK?

18th September 2026

Canada has spent generations building its economy around its huge neighbour to the south. Now it is looking across the Atlantic.

The change has been accelerated by the trade conflict with the United States, but Canada's new approach is about more than tariffs. Ottawa is looking at Europe as a source of markets, investment, technology, defence cooperation and long-term economic security.

For Britain and Scotland, that creates an interesting opportunity.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Europe this week proposing what he described as a much deeper and more integrated partnership between Canada and the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has gone further, proposing that Canada could become the EU's first "associate member".

That does not mean Canada is joining the EU. The proposed status does not currently exist in EU treaties and its precise terms have yet to be negotiated. But the direction of travel is clear. Canada wants much closer European connections.

Britain is already part of the picture

The UK should not assume that this is simply an EU story.

Canada and Britain already have close economic and political links. The UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement has been in force since 2021, while Britain has also joined the CPTPP, giving British businesses another route into the Canadian market.

The UK and Canada are also negotiating an upgraded trade agreement, although those negotiations have previously been suspended over disagreements including agricultural market access.

The relationship is therefore already substantial.

In 2025, Scotland exported about £520 million of goods to Canada, according to HMRC regional trade figures. Scotland also imported about £400 million of goods from Canada.

That makes Canada a meaningful market for Scottish businesses, although it remains much smaller than Scotland's trade with the rest of the UK and many European markets.

There is nevertheless scope for that relationship to grow.

Energy could be particularly important
One of Canada's attractions to Europe is something Scotland understands very well: energy.

Canada has enormous energy resources and is looking to develop stronger export markets. Carney has specifically identified energy security as an area for deeper cooperation with Europe.

Scotland, meanwhile, is developing a large renewable-energy industry while retaining considerable expertise in oil and gas, offshore engineering and marine technology.

There could therefore be opportunities for Canadian and Scottish companies to work together rather than simply compete.

Offshore engineering, floating wind, subsea technology, hydrogen, carbon management and energy infrastructure are all areas where experience on both sides of the Atlantic could potentially be useful.

The important point is that Canada is not simply looking for somewhere to sell raw materials. Its government is talking about building complete supply chains and combining Canadian resources with European manufacturing, research and technology.

Critical minerals may be even more interesting
Critical minerals are becoming a strategic issue for both sides of the Atlantic.

Canada has deposits of more than 30 critical minerals and wants to develop processing and supply chains around them. Europe, meanwhile, wants to reduce its dependence on a small number of countries for materials needed for batteries, electronics, renewable energy and defence.

Scotland is also beginning to look seriously at this issue.

Scottish Enterprise has warned that critical-mineral supply chains are increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical disruption and has identified opportunities for Scotland in research, recycling, substitution, remanufacturing and higher-value processing.

That potentially creates an unusual connection.

Canada has resources. Scotland has universities, engineering expertise, renewable-energy experience and industrial capabilities. Europe has a huge market.

The challenge would be turning those complementary strengths into actual investment and jobs rather than simply signing agreements.

Defence is another area where the relationship is changing
Canada is also moving closer to European defence structures. In February 2026 it became the first non-European participant in the EU's SAFE defence procurement programme, a €150 billion facility designed to support joint European defence procurement.

This could give Canadian defence companies greater access to European procurement opportunities.

Canada has also formally applied to join the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force.

Carney discussed defence cooperation with the UK during his visit to Liverpool this week, including opportunities involving the Global Combat Air Programme.

For Scotland, this matters because defence is already a significant part of the economy, with major naval and aerospace activity.

A closer Canada-UK relationship could therefore have consequences well beyond Westminster and Ottawa.

There is also a university connection
Perhaps one of the more interesting proposals concerns education. Carney has proposed closer Canadian participation in European programmes including Erasmus+ and the next generation of Horizon research funding.

If developed, this could mean more opportunities for Canadian and European students and researchers to work together.

For Scotland's universities, which have traditionally benefited from international research partnerships, that could be significant.

It is another example of how the relationship is moving beyond straightforward buying and selling of goods. Canada is looking at research, technology, finance, defence and education as parts of one wider economic relationship.

What about Caithness and Sutherland?

The opportunities may sound rather remote from Caithness and Sutherland, but some of the sectors involved are surprisingly relevant.

The Highlands already have links to renewable energy, offshore engineering, ports, construction, marine services and the nuclear industry.

Canada's search for secure energy and critical-mineral supply chains could eventually create opportunities for companies in parts of Scotland that are not normally regarded as major international business centres.

That will not happen automatically.

A Canadian company is not going to invest in Caithness simply because Ottawa and London have signed another agreement.

There would have to be competitive infrastructure, skilled workers, reliable energy supplies, good transport and businesses capable of participating in international supply chains.

But the changing international environment could create openings that did not previously exist.

Britain has an interesting choice
There is perhaps a wider lesson here for the UK. Canada is trying to diversify because it has discovered the danger of becoming too dependent on one enormous neighbour.

Britain, after Brexit, is in a different position. It already has an independent trade policy and its own agreements with Canada and other countries. But the EU remains Britain's largest trading partner.

Canada is now trying to build stronger relationships with both the UK and the EU.

That could give Britain an unusual position as a bridge between two increasingly connected markets.

The UK-Canada relationship could develop further at the same time as Canada develops its relationship with the EU.

For Scotland, the potential prize is even wider: Canadian investment, Canadian energy and minerals, European markets and Scottish research and industrial expertise could all become parts of the same network.

None of this is guaranteed.

Canada's proposed European relationship still has substantial political and legal hurdles, and its existing relationship with the United States will remain enormously important. Even the EU's proposed "associate membership" is at this stage an idea rather than an established institution.

But something important has already changed.

For decades, Canada could reasonably be described as looking south first and across the Atlantic second.

That may no longer be the case.

And if Canada really does begin to reposition itself towards Europe, Scotland and the wider UK may find that a country on the other side of the Atlantic is becoming a rather more important economic partner than it was before.