In Warsaw, Carney deepens Canada’s defence, trade ties with Poland

Wilson Center fellow at the Global Europe Program Dimitris Tsarouhas talks about Prime Minister Mark Carney's efforts to deepen ties with major EU countries.

WARSAW — Canada and Poland struck a new strategic partnership on trade, defence and energy on Monday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney continued a five-day trip to Europe.

After making a surprise visit to Kyiv for Ukrainian Independence Day on Sunday, Carney travelled to Warsaw for a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Later Monday, he flew to Berlin, where he will hold meetings with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before ending the trip by visiting Canadian troops stationed in Riga, Latvia.

Carney and Tusk said they’ve agreed to work more closely in areas such as defence, aviation, cybersecurity and clean energy. The two nations will start holding annual bilateral meetings and work to encourage industrial partnerships in those sectors.

Carney said the Polish partnership will drive European demand for Canadian exports and solidify Canada’s defence presence in Europe.

The Prime Minister’s Office announced Monday that Canada will be the lead country at a large defence industry expo in Poland next year. That news comes after Canada and Europe signed a deal in June that opens the door for Canada to participate in the Re-Arm Europe program, a massive new defence spending policy by European nations, which should allow Canadian companies to bid on contracts.

Carney touted the partnership with Poland and wider co-operation with Europe as integral for meeting Canada’s goal to quadruple the pace of defence spending by the end of the decade.

“We learned much from the prime minister, from his government, including the importance of pulling our full weight in NATO,” Carney told media Monday.

“It will take us a few years to reach Polish levels of commitment, but it’s possible and we’ve made that commitment.”

Poland expects to spend close to five per cent of its GDP on defence this year, well above the current NATO target of two per cent. The country has rapidly increased its defence spending since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Canada has never met the two per cent target but Carney said in June he intends to increase the defence budget to meet the target by the end of this fiscal year.

Supporting Ukraine is part of that plan, and Carney reaffirmed Canada’s resolve to back Ukraine against Russia during his visit with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday.

In a speech during Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations, Carney urged international partners to ramp up support for Ukraine at a critical juncture in its war with Russia.

Tusk said in Polish that he felt Carney’s resolve after watching the Canadian prime minister speak with Zelenskyy the day before.

“I understand the readiness of Canada, of Poland, and of our European partners to keep helping Ukraine during the war and after the war. We will be co-operating closely in this field with Canada,” he said, according to a translation provided by the prime minister’s office.

Before meeting Tusk, Carney received a demonstration from Canadian Armed Forces members stationed in Poland as part of Operation Unifier, which provides training to Ukrainian soldiers.

He told assembled members that their training is “essential for any future security guarantee” in Ukraine.

On Sunday, Carney did not rule out sending Canadian troops to Ukraine as part of a possible security guarantee to secure a peace deal in the war with Russia. But he has not clarified what that could look like. He said conversations with allies for a postwar Ukraine are still unfolding.

At a joint news conference with Carney in Warsaw, Tusk ruled out the possibility of Polish soldiers entering Ukraine after the war is over, but will organize logistics at the border to help the war-torn country and protect the Europe-Russia border.

Defence Minister David McGuinty told reporters Monday before Carney’s meeting with Tusk that the shape of Canada’s role in sustaining an eventual peace in Ukraine is still up for discussion.

“When (Prime Minister Carney) was speaking, he was speaking in the context of a whole series of possibilities, and that’s very difficult to prejudge. We’ll see how this evolves over time. But we are hopeful that peace will come,” McGuinty said.

The prime minister also met with Poland’s newly elected president, Karol Nawrocki, before heading to Germany for a meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday.

Catherine Godin, Canada’s ambassador to Poland, said the strategic partnership between the nations reflects a “mutual appetite” for more bilateral trade, particularly as U.S. President Donald Trump wages his global tariff campaign.

“The scope of what we can do together is only growing,” she told reporters in Warsaw.

“Frankly, the importance of Poland is growing. Now it’s the fastest growing economy in Europe, so we need to take Poland into account.”

Poland has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe over the past decade, and has taken on increasing geopolitical importance since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Marcin Gabrys, chair of Canadian Studies at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, said Poland has “very solid foundations” in its relations with Canada, and wants more co-operation in sectors such as nuclear technology, with both countries signing an agreement in January for projects like small modular reactors.

A 2017 trade deal between Canada and Poland has doubled trade of goods between the countries, but Gabrys noted there is now a trade deficit for Canada, with Polish companies sending more goods and investment into Canada than vice versa.

“There are a lot of opportunities in terms of economic co-operation,” he said, including in critical minerals, and ties through Poland’s large diaspora in Canada.

Much of Canada’s recent engagement with Poland has surrounded Ukraine, from Ottawa’s resettlement program that brought thousands of Ukrainian women and children to Canada through Poland, to collaboration on bolstering the defence of NATO countries bordering Russia.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press

With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa