Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the chance to become an "associate member" of ‌the EU, while appearing to aim a dig at Donald Trump.

Mr Carney told European Parliament members in Strasbourg on Thursday that he was "not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival - only with better manners".

"We do not seek power to dominate others," Mr Carney said. "On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine ​our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.

"Europe and Canada are each strong. Europe and Canada are even stronger together."

The proposal to grant Canada associate status, made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen a day earlier, was dismissed as "laughable" overnight by Mr Trump, who warned he would put "very heavy tariffs" on Europe if he decided the idea was ​hostile.

Both the EU and Canada have ⁠been under intense pressure from Mr Trump's administration, as well as China, ⁠on trade and other areas.

Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said the idea - which is yet to be fleshed out, and would need to be approved by EU ⁠member states - was "not against anyone else".

Mr Carney said both the EU and Canada sought ⁠deeper ties.

"We are not fair-weather allies," he said. "We believe that our prosperity grows when it is shared. The objective is not self-sufficiency. It is collective resilience."

Referring to Ms von der Leyen's proposal, he added: "We welcome this ambition."

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Among ⁠areas in which he said Canada would want closer ​ties with the EU were in critical minerals, defence industrial ​capacity, AI and computing, energy security, space and payments.

He also mentioned digital trade and building more secure broadband connections between Europe and Asia via their common geography.