Saint-Pierre, France - French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday welcomed Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney to France's tiny North Atlantic territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon at a time when both of their countries were experiencing strained relations with President Donald Trump and the US.

Macron was waiting for Carney as he stepped off his airplane, and the two leaders greeted each other with a warm handshake and a long embrace in the bright sunshine.

They were expected to confirm Canada's close relations with both France and the European Union in a joint statement following a working lunch.

"In a world in crisis, our friendship is a strength," Macron posted on X, above a video of him welcoming Carney at the airport.

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"Together, we affirm our sovereignty, our freedom to decide and our willingness to build a future of peace and prosperity," he added.

Carney is the first Canadian prime minister to visit the territory.

Macron's three-day visit to the French territory, a three-island archipelago of fewer than 6,000 people just 15 miles off Newfoundland, is the first by a French president in more than a decade.

Macron emphasized that "France and Canada are 'two great independent nations who want to stay that way."

The trip carries significant symbolic resonance.

The archipelago is France's only remaining possession in North America, a vestige of the vast territories Paris once controlled in what is now Canada and the US.

Macron argues that President Trump's second mandate has reinforced the case that Europe needs to become more sovereign, especially on security.

Carney, caught up in an intensifying dispute with Trump – who has even threatened to annex Canada – has welcomed a proposal for his country to become the European Union's first "associate member."

He has described his nation as "the most European of non-European countries."

Trump's repeated remarks about making Canada the 51st US state have been strongly rejected by Ottawa.

Last week, Trump posted an image on social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland and Mexico, much of Central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were coloured in with the US flag.

The image also encompassed several French overseas territories, such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Pierre, and Miquelon.