Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is accelerating efforts to deepen economic and strategic ties with Europe as relations with the United States deteriorate, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Saturday.

Carney has directed Canada’s special envoy to Europe to explore arrangements short of European Union membership, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. The move comes shortly after Canada and the U.S. became embroiled in the worst bilateral trade war in their modern history.

The prime minister has held private conversations with nearly every major European leader over recent months to integrate Canada more closely with the EU’s 27-nation bloc. Technical working groups are now sketching details for what Carney has described to aides as a reorientation of an economy long dominated by the United States.

The pivot follows months of escalating tensions with Washington over trade. Carney’s government has already advanced several initiatives with European partners, including the New EU-Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future and a Security and Defence Partnership launched last year.

In February, Canada became the first non-European country to join the EU’s Security Action for Europe initiative, opening opportunities for Canadian defense firms. Carney is scheduled to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg next week and meet with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool.

European officials have signaled openness to innovative forms of association that could allow freer movement of goods, services, and workers in strategic sectors such as energy, defense, and critical minerals without granting full membership.

The developments mark a significant shift for Canada, which has long balanced its relationships across the Atlantic but now faces pressure to diversify away from its southern neighbor.