Trudeau travelling to Paris, Brussels for AI summit, meetings with European allies

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte wait to be served at Pastis in The Hague, Netherlands on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-POOL, Bart Maat

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet European leaders and the head of NATO next week as Canada reaches out to allies reeling under the impact of the new Trump administration in the United States.

Trudeau also plans to attend an artificial intelligence global summit in Paris, where he will deliver a keynote speech.

Trudeau’s office says he will be in Paris and Brussels for five days starting Saturday.

The statement says that in Brussels, the prime minister will meet “EU counterparts” to discuss security, Ukraine and trade.

He will also meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to “reaffirm” Canada’s commitment to NATO.

His trip will begin in Paris with the third annual AI Action Summit, where the focus is on protecting AI innovation while ensuring it’s developed responsibly.

French President Emmanuel Macron issued an invitation to U.S. President Donald Trump to attend the summit but it’s not yet known if he will be there in person.

But Trump will still cast a wide shadow across Trudeau’s European trip as Canada and Europe both contend with the threat of import tariffs.

That threat got very real for Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1, when Trump signed an order imposing tariffs of 10 per cent on all Canadian energy imports and 25 per cent on everything else from both countries.

The tariffs were to have started on Feb. 4 but on Monday, Trump agreed to put them on hold until March 4 pending further economic negotiations.

He also imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports.

Canada moved to retaliate with its own tariffs on U.S. imports and most provinces were banning U.S. alcohol from their liquor stores, but all of that is also now on hold.

A day after he signed the Canadian order, Trump turned his attention to Europe, saying tariffs on its member countries would be coming “soon.”

European trade ministers met in Poland on Tuesday to discuss that threat and European Commissioner Ursula Von Der Leyen told an EU Ambassadors Conference on Tuesday that Europe will also fight back.

“I want to be clear. Europe will safeguard its economic and national security,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.