Speculation: Implications of Canada joining the EU
- Thread starter MeHateHe
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sawchuk1971
Registered User
- Jun 16, 2011
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JMCx4
HUTCH Lives!
Ref. Why Canada should join the EU
The rest appears to be the OP's speculations (as the Thread Title announces). The basic topic of Canada --> EU has been wandering around the internet for nearly 20 years. Just as valid for web fodder now as it was then.
qc14
Registered User
- Jul 1, 2024
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WarriorofTime
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- Jul 3, 2010
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Not happening.
As an EU member, Canada would be required to adopt the EU’s common external trade policy. This means Canada’s existing trade obligations under USMCA could conflict with EU rules. EU membership involves joining its customs union, which imposes a common external tariff on goods entering the EU. This would override Canada’s ability to set its own tariffs under USMCA. Canada would no longer negotiate directly with the U.S. and Mexico but instead rely on the EU to represent its trade interests. This could complicate the administration of USMCA and disrupt the seamless trade Canada currently enjoys with its North American partners.
I doubt anyone making this "suggestion" has seriously thought through these ramifications, and why it makes it completely impracticable.
As an EU member, Canada would be required to adopt the EU’s common external trade policy. This means Canada’s existing trade obligations under USMCA could conflict with EU rules. EU membership involves joining its customs union, which imposes a common external tariff on goods entering the EU. This would override Canada’s ability to set its own tariffs under USMCA. Canada would no longer negotiate directly with the U.S. and Mexico but instead rely on the EU to represent its trade interests. This could complicate the administration of USMCA and disrupt the seamless trade Canada currently enjoys with its North American partners.
I doubt anyone making this "suggestion" has seriously thought through these ramifications, and why it makes it completely impracticable.
PCSPounder
Stadium Groupie
Seems like the USMCA is something already being threatened from the POTUS end.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if BRICS enters the discussion.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if BRICS enters the discussion.
- Oct 9, 2012
- 34,255
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It’s about as practical as becoming a part of the US, won’t ever happen. Canada is a healthy and resource rich nation, it just needs to figure some things out. A topic for a different forum though.
The premise is that USMCA is already being discarded by Trump. And if US-Canada relations continue to deteriorate, then Canada will need new partners. It would have to be the EU.
Canada-US relations will greatly improve once Trudeau is out of office. And Trump was the one who negotiated the current USMCA. He's just using the threat against the current regime to try and get them to back off their current policies and give the new government a headstart.
There is a lot of wishful thinking going on. You have people on both sides of each issue thinking Trump is secretly doing a reasonable thing in their favor. Meanwhile his advisors from his first administration say he is not capable of strategy.
Well...the Canadian election is happening later this year, so that's not a stretch. And Trump did negotiate the USMCA. And using Tariffs and nixing deals was his MO throughout his first term as President. So there's no real wishful thinking going on. He just uses economic pressure points to get people to take action quicker, in a way that favors his policies and totally in keeping with known behavior from his previous term.
I can't tell which end goal you're ascribing to Trump.
There are pro Trump people who think he is trying to stop drugs and migrants (even though maybe more goes in the other direction). And there are pro Trump people who think it really is to get trade concessions in USMCA. And then there are the people cheering on annexation. And you claim he is just trying to help the next Canadian government?
Helping the next Canadian Government helps him. If he can get Canada to get back to its Oil and Gas, and get back to what he had when he renegotiated the USMCA, then it helps the US position. The next Canadian government is speculated to be a Conservative one, so if he can get the current regime to start to change some of its policies, ahead of that election, it would help both the US and Canada, economically.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
I live in Europe and this will never happen. This idea was jokingly floated because Mr orange wants to take over Canada
Yukon Joe
Registered User
OK, so I'm going to try and engage with this seriously - and with a focus on hockey on the remote chance this thread doesn't get nuked from orbit.
It *is* extremely unlikely to ever happen. Back in the day two non-European countries applied to join the EU - Morocco and Turkey. Morocco was turned down flat - Morocco is not in Europe. Part of Turkey *is* in Europe however, so they were granted "candidate" status in 1999. In the year 2025 Turkey is not remotely close to joining the EU.
I would speculate that the reason Morocco and Turkey have been turned down is more cultural/ethnic than they are geographic, and that the EU secretly would be more open to Canada joining as we are a majority white/christian nation that speaks existing European languages (even as England/UK has left) - but to accept Canada would mean there's no reason not to consider Morocco and Turkey.
So what effect would it have on hockey? Well first and most simply joining the EU would mean joining the Schengen customs union. Europeans would have the full right to live and work in any EU country - so that would apply to hockey players playing in Canada. So no worrying about work visas.
As I think about it - I think that would mean opening up the CHL completely to European players, but might then restrict the number of US players in the CHL. European hockey leagues have restrictions on the number of Canadians they can employ IIRC.
The entire NHL salary cap could potentially be put at risk. I've been told there's a reason no Eurpoean league has a salary cap, and it has to do with European anti-trust laws - but even as a Canadian lawyer this is well beyond my knowledge.
And yes Canada would have to join the Euro. That would be a mixed bag. The Canadian dollar is tightly tied to the price of oil, which in turn if moderately tied to the Canadian economy in general. The price of oil goes up, the economy goes up, the dollar goes up. That means we can more easily buy things from abroad.
The price of oil goes down, the economy goes down, the dollar goes down. That makes it more expensive to buy from abroad - but that in turn encourages buying Canadian goods. It also encourages foreign companies to invest in Canada, which should eventually help the Canadian economy grow.
So having the Euro risks times where the Canadian economy is down, yet we have a high currency since it's no longer tied to the dollar. That could make the good times even better (good economy / low currency), but the bad times even worse (bad economy / strong currency).
Joining the Euro would have countless other effects - on dairy, food labelling, fisheries, environmental regulations - but that's well beyond hockey itself.
It *is* extremely unlikely to ever happen. Back in the day two non-European countries applied to join the EU - Morocco and Turkey. Morocco was turned down flat - Morocco is not in Europe. Part of Turkey *is* in Europe however, so they were granted "candidate" status in 1999. In the year 2025 Turkey is not remotely close to joining the EU.
I would speculate that the reason Morocco and Turkey have been turned down is more cultural/ethnic than they are geographic, and that the EU secretly would be more open to Canada joining as we are a majority white/christian nation that speaks existing European languages (even as England/UK has left) - but to accept Canada would mean there's no reason not to consider Morocco and Turkey.
So what effect would it have on hockey? Well first and most simply joining the EU would mean joining the Schengen customs union. Europeans would have the full right to live and work in any EU country - so that would apply to hockey players playing in Canada. So no worrying about work visas.
As I think about it - I think that would mean opening up the CHL completely to European players, but might then restrict the number of US players in the CHL. European hockey leagues have restrictions on the number of Canadians they can employ IIRC.
The entire NHL salary cap could potentially be put at risk. I've been told there's a reason no Eurpoean league has a salary cap, and it has to do with European anti-trust laws - but even as a Canadian lawyer this is well beyond my knowledge.
And yes Canada would have to join the Euro. That would be a mixed bag. The Canadian dollar is tightly tied to the price of oil, which in turn if moderately tied to the Canadian economy in general. The price of oil goes up, the economy goes up, the dollar goes up. That means we can more easily buy things from abroad.
The price of oil goes down, the economy goes down, the dollar goes down. That makes it more expensive to buy from abroad - but that in turn encourages buying Canadian goods. It also encourages foreign companies to invest in Canada, which should eventually help the Canadian economy grow.
So having the Euro risks times where the Canadian economy is down, yet we have a high currency since it's no longer tied to the dollar. That could make the good times even better (good economy / low currency), but the bad times even worse (bad economy / strong currency).
Joining the Euro would have countless other effects - on dairy, food labelling, fisheries, environmental regulations - but that's well beyond hockey itself.
MeHateHe
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2006
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Sweden and the UK both retained their unique currencies on joining the EU.
Appreciate the rest of your thoughts. As for the rest of you, yeah, it’s highly unlikely, but whatever. That’s why the word “speculation” was in the thread title. Geez, it’s not like I was proposing trading the world’s greatest player to a southern market for a highly regarded prospect, cash and some draft picks.
Yukon Joe
Registered User
So that's a different situation. As well some eastern european states are not members of the Euro.
Sweden and UK were members of the EU (previously the EEC) before the Euro. In negotiations over the formation of the Euro they got opt-out provisions.
The eastern european countries joined very shortly after the founding of the Euro. They are all formally supposed to join the Euro, although exactly when that will happen is very much up in the air as they didn't initially meet the requirements and don't appear to do so any time soon.
My understanding is the EU doesn't want to repeat the eastern europe mistake - and will require any new member to formally join the Euro immediately upon joining.
