EU wants Canada to be its first associate member

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the 27-nation bloc wants Canada as its first associate member, a new effort to strengthen ties between the two as relations with the United States sour.

Talks of a new partnership with Canada were first revealed last week, and were given new credence on Wednesday during von der Leyen’s annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The arrangement would be the first of its kind, and it is still in the planning phase, but it is intended to wean Canada off of its reliance on the U.S. Von der Leyen began by warning of the need for new partnerships amid the “fracturing” of the “international rules-based system.”