Canada’s relationship with its closest neighbour is entering an unusually uneasy chapter. A newly released national poll finds that 70% of Canadians have a negative impression of the United States, while 76% support closer coordination with the European Union on trade and security. The contrast is striking: Americans remain central to Canada’s economy and daily life, yet the appeal of a broader set of international partners is growing.
The findings arrive as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to welcome European leaders to Montréal for an October 29–30 summit. They signal neither an imminent break with Washington nor a public mandate to join the EU. Instead, they reveal a country looking for more options in a relationship that, for many Canadians, feels less predictable than it once did.
A 70% Negative Rating Marks a Deep Shift in Canadian Sentiment
Pollara Strategic Insights released its Global Perspectives findings on October 28, after questioning 2,604 Canadian adults online between September 10 and 18. Seven in ten respondents described their feelings toward the United States as negative, compared with 23% who felt positively. The intensity matters: 47% chose “very negative,” while another 23% selected “somewhat negative.” Just 7% said their impression was very positive. A relationship often described as Canada’s most important has become an unusual source of public unease.
The shift is especially notable against the longer picture. In June 2024, Pollara recorded a 13-point net positive impression of the United States. By May 2025, it had turned into a 47-point net negative reading, which remained unchanged in 2026. That represents a 60-percentage-point reversal from 2024. Although the poll does not establish why individual respondents changed their views, U.S. tariffs and political threats have formed a significant backdrop to deteriorating relations. For Canadians accustomed to treating the border as a bridge, the figures capture how quickly confidence in an old partnership can change.
The European Union Now Looks Far More Attractive
Europe presents a remarkably different picture. According to Pollara, 67% of Canadians have a positive impression of the European Union, while just 14% view it negatively. That puts the EU’s positive rating 44 percentage points above the United States in the same research. Canada’s favourable attitudes also extend to individual European countries. Italy, Germany and France all received strongly positive overall ratings, suggesting the attraction goes beyond the EU as an institution.
More importantly, those favourable impressions translate into support for cooperation. When asked whether Canada should enter a partnership with the EU to coordinate trade and security, 76% supported the idea, including 41% who strongly supported it. Only 10% opposed the arrangement, while 14% were unsure. This distinction matters because Canadians are not simply expressing affection for European countries. They are endorsing closer cooperation on practical concerns, including international commerce and security. Such a partnership would not require Canada to abandon its relationship with the United States or become an EU member. Instead, it could provide another avenue for economic and diplomatic cooperation.
Political Divisions Remain, but Europe Attracts Support Across Party Lines
The poll reveals a clear political divide in how Canadians perceive the United States. Among Liberal voters, 80% expressed negative feelings toward the country, while just 15% reported positive impressions. Conservative voters were considerably more divided, with 48% holding positive views and 46% negative ones. The differences suggest that attitudes toward Washington are influenced by domestic political allegiances, even when Canadians are assessing an international partner. President Donald Trump also received a net favourability rating of minus 68, compared with minus 52 in 2025.
Yet the political divide becomes less pronounced when the conversation turns to Europe. Support for a Canada-EU trade and security partnership reached 91% among Liberal voters, 85% among NDP supporters and 84% among Bloc Québécois supporters. Even among Conservative voters, 63% supported the arrangement. That is an important distinction: Canadians can disagree sharply about Trump and Washington while still supporting a more diversified foreign policy. The result gives policymakers considerable room to explore European cooperation without treating it exclusively as a partisan project.
Support for Stronger EU Relations Extends Across Canada
Closer cooperation with Europe enjoys relatively consistent support across the country, rather than being concentrated in a handful of provinces. Pollara found that 76% of British Columbians favoured a trade and security partnership with the EU, compared with 74% in Alberta. Support reached 77% in Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined, Ontario and Quebec, while Atlantic Canada registered 74%. The small differences are particularly notable given Canada’s often competing regional economic interests.
Demographic results add another dimension. Among Canadians aged 65 and older, 84% supported closer EU cooperation. The figure was 83% among university-educated respondents and 81% among immigrants, compared with 75% among Canadian-born respondents. These findings suggest that interest in Europe reaches beyond any single regional or social group. A manufacturer in Ontario, an agricultural exporter in the Prairies and a student considering overseas opportunities may have different priorities, but each could find practical advantages in stronger international connections. The poll does not establish what motivates individual respondents, however, and regional differences should be interpreted cautiously because smaller groups carry greater statistical uncertainty.
Other Recent Polls Confirm Canadians Are Looking Toward Europe
Pollara’s findings are part of a broader pattern emerging across Canadian public opinion research. A Nanos Research poll released on October 13 found that 83% of Canadians wanted much closer or somewhat closer relations with the European Union. That included 60% favouring much closer ties. Separately, a September Léger poll found that 70% supported Canada becoming an associate member of the EU, although the meaning of that proposed status remains unsettled. The results point toward considerable public interest in expanding Canada’s international relationships.
Another poll published on October 28, conducted by Canada Pulse Insights, found that 73% of respondents believed Prime Minister Carney was moving in the right direction by seeking closer economic and security ties with Europe. The remaining 27% disagreed with that approach. Each poll asked different questions and used different research methods, so the percentages should not be treated as interchangeable. Nevertheless, their consistent direction provides further evidence that strengthening European connections has become a mainstream Canadian policy preference rather than an isolated reaction to one news event.
Canada’s Economic Dependence on the United States Remains Enormous
Despite the deterioration in public sentiment, Canada’s economic relationship with the United States remains deeply entrenched. Statistics Canada reported that 71.7% of Canadian merchandise exports went to the American market in 2025, down from 75.9% in 2024. The United States also accounted for 58.8% of Canadian merchandise imports in 2025. Meanwhile, Canadian exports to countries outside the United States increased by 17.2% that year, showing that trade diversification was already gaining momentum.
Europe represents a significant opportunity, but replacing American demand would be extraordinarily difficult. According to Global Affairs Canada, two-way trade in goods and services between Canada and the EU reached $178.6 billion in 2025, making the bloc Canada’s second-largest trading partner. Still, the proximity of American markets gives Canadian businesses advantages that cannot easily be recreated overseas. An Ontario auto-parts manufacturer supplying factories across the U.S. border, for example, cannot necessarily redirect those products to European customers without changing contracts, logistics and production requirements. Diversification therefore offers a way to reduce economic vulnerability over time, not an immediate substitute for North American trade.
Canada Already Has a Major Trade Agreement With Europe
Canada is not starting from scratch in building an economic relationship with the EU. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, commonly known as CETA, was signed in 2016 and began provisional application on September 21, 2017. According to the European Commission, the agreement provides for the elimination of tariffs on 99% of tariff lines, with 98% removed when provisional implementation began. However, nine EU member states have yet to complete national ratification, meaning the agreement is not fully in force.
The economic relationship has expanded considerably. Global Affairs Canada reports that bilateral merchandise trade between Canada and the EU increased by more than 77% between 2016 and 2025. The relationship also supports substantial employment: Canadian affiliates of European companies generated approximately 447,000 jobs in Canada in 2024, while Canadian companies supported about 275,000 jobs in EU member countries. Those numbers illustrate why closer cooperation matters beyond diplomatic meetings. For businesses, the next opportunity could involve making existing trade provisions easier to use, reducing regulatory obstacles and helping smaller exporters establish lasting relationships with European customers.
Defence and Security Cooperation Could Become a Major Priority
Trade is only one part of Canada’s growing relationship with Europe. In June 2025, Canada and the EU signed a Security and Defence Partnership covering potential cooperation in cybersecurity, maritime security, defence procurement, crisis management and emerging technologies. The agreement is not legally binding, but it provides a political framework for expanding joint initiatives. In February 2026, Canada also formalized its participation in the EU’s Security Action for Europe initiative, known as SAFE, a €150 billion financing mechanism designed to support joint defence procurement.
The opportunities are already becoming more tangible. In June 2026, Ottawa announced that Montréal-based Marconi Technologies would build Canadian-made ORION tactical radios for Poland’s Cyber Command under a procurement arrangement linked to SAFE. The example demonstrates how closer security relationships can translate into actual orders for Canadian manufacturers, rather than remaining solely diplomatic commitments. More broadly, cooperation on cybersecurity, military equipment and critical technologies could give Canadian businesses access to additional European opportunities. The challenge will be ensuring that these arrangements create measurable industrial benefits while preserving Canada’s existing defence partnerships and decision-making independence.
Support for Cooperation Is Not the Same as Support for EU Membership
Pollara also tested a much more ambitious possibility: Canada becoming a full member of the European Union. Without detailed conditions, 58% of respondents supported the idea and 21% opposed it. When a separate group received an explanation of what membership could involve, support stood at 50% while opposition reached 36%. Each question was presented to a different sample of 1,302 respondents, so the findings do not show individual Canadians changing their minds. They demonstrate how the details of a proposed relationship can affect public support.
The more detailed scenario described access to the EU’s 27-country single market and rights to live and work in member states. It also included adopting EU laws, contributing to the EU budget, losing independent trade-negotiating powers and replacing the Canadian dollar with the euro. Those were hypothetical conditions presented by the pollster, not an agreed government plan. More fundamentally, Article 49 of the EU treaty permits European states to apply for membership, meaning Canada is not eligible under the current rules. An undefined associate-membership arrangement would be a different proposition altogether, one that still faces substantial legal and political questions.
The Montréal Summit Will Test Whether Public Support Leads to Results
The timing of the latest findings is particularly significant. Prime Minister Carney is hosting European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Montréal on October 29 and 30. The summit agenda includes trade, defence, critical minerals, digital cooperation, research and opportunities for younger generations. For Ottawa, the gathering represents a chance to turn growing public enthusiasm for Europe into concrete diplomatic and commercial arrangements.
However, negotiations are already revealing important complications. Reuters reported on October 28 that a proposed Canada-EU joint declaration had dropped the term “associate member” in favour of closer cooperation without a defined membership status. The draft reportedly includes initiatives involving subsea communications infrastructure, a feasibility study on Canadian liquefied natural gas exports and expanded work opportunities across the Atlantic. These proposals remain subject to further negotiations and implementation. The challenge for Carney will be to secure practical benefits while managing an already strained relationship with Washington. For Canadians, meaningful results could include stronger export opportunities, new investment and greater economic security, rather than simply another diplomatic declaration.
What the Poll Reveals About Canada’s Changing Priorities
The findings provide an important snapshot of Canadian attitudes, but their methodology deserves attention. Pollara recruited 2,604 adults through Léger’s online research panel between September 10 and 18, 2026. Responses were weighted using census information on age, gender and region. Because the research used an online non-probability sample, it does not have a conventional statistical margin of error. Pollara provided a comparison of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points for an equivalent probability sample, with greater uncertainty among smaller demographic groups.
There is also an important distinction behind the headline: viewing the United States negatively does not necessarily mean disliking Americans. Separate Angus Reid Institute research published in August found that 45% of Canadians viewed American people favourably and 48% unfavourably. Meanwhile, 79% of American respondents viewed Canadians positively. Those results involved different questions and should not be compared directly with Pollara’s findings. Nevertheless, they illustrate the complexity of cross-border relationships. Canada’s growing interest in Europe can coexist with longstanding family, cultural and commercial connections to the United States. The clearest message is that Canadians increasingly want broader international options without necessarily abandoning the partnerships they already have.
