Why Donald Trump is in a jealous rage after the EU invited Canada to become an 'associate member' - Toronto Star

With the EU sliding into our DMs, it’s time to block America on Instagram and embrace a new relationship.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledges MEPs alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Sept. 17, 2026.

Vinay Menon is the Star’s pop culture columnist based in Toronto. Reach him via email: vmenon@thestar.ca

Now he’s in a jealous rage because we are dating Europe? No wonder this dope is on his third marriage. He doesn’t understand how relationships work. If I threatened my wife’s sovereignty and slapped a 50 per cent tariff on her lasagna, she’d now be on Tinder.

It was stirring to watch Mark Carney strut around Strasbourg this week with the rizz and swagger of Alain Delon in “Plein Soleil.” Our PM is a celebrity across the free world. European leaders ask for selfies. Diplomats with hangdog eyes plan to have a baby boy just to name him “Marc.” Even attachés standing in the aisles before Carney speaks across the pond stare at him lovingly, respectfully, admiringly, like he is marriage material.

On Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed to Canada. She invited us to become the first “associate member” in the EU. What this means is not entirely clear. But I suspect it’s like when a friend who belongs to a private club invites me as a guest for dinner.

As far as I can tell, if the paperwork is hammered out in Brussels and Ottawa, Canada and the EU will be going steady. Not exclusively dating. Just friends with benefits on trade, defence, travel, work, cybersecurity and manufacturing.

During my own recent Euro trip, I kept meeting people terrified by the U.S. president’s autocratic turn yet blithe to the threat he poses to them.