Strasbourg, France - As Canada continues to shift away from the US, European Union Chief Ursula von der Leyen raised the prospect of Canada becoming the bloc's first "associate member."

Von der Leyen pitched the position to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday, touting the possibility of closer cooperation between Ottawa and Brussels on tech, defense, and energy.

As democracies face a "fracture in the international rules-based system," von der Leyen said, Brussels and Ottawa needed to pull closer together.

"I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU," von der Leyen told the Canadian prime minister, who was attending her annual keynote speech.

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Carney has been pursuing closer ties with the EU, as both seek to pivot away from a hostile US under President Donald Trump.

The first foreign head of government to attend the annual "State of the European Union" address, Carney's visit is meant to act as a catalyst ahead of an EU-Canada summit in Montreal next month.

Von der Leyen said it was time to move from cooperation based on trade to a broader "alliance for the future" and "bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible."

"We will work on intelligent manufacturing. We will create a tech alliance. We will integrate defense industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project," she said.

She listed energy, critical minerals, batteries, AI, cyber and economic security, as other fields of cooperation.

"This is a partnership not against anyone else, but for our common strength," she added.

Carney is yet to address von der Leyen's comments, but only days ago called Canada "the most European of non-European countries" and indicated that he's pursuing an unprecedentedly close relationship with the bloc.