Macron, Carney hail new chapter in France-Canada ties at symbolic archipelago meeting

French President Emmanuel Macron said France and Canada were "two great independent nations who want to stay that way" in a joint news conference with Canadian leader Mark Carney Sunday. Carney, visiting France's tiny North Atlantic territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon just off the Canadian coast, said the moment had come to tighten links with France and the European Union. The leaders' meeting, in the tiny overseas French territory off the coast of Canada's Newfoundland came as both countries have increasingly awkward relations with the US under President Donald Trump. The meeting came days after Carney embraced the prospect of Canada becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying closer ties with the continent would ensure no country could control Canada’s markets or undermine its sovereignty. Trump’s tariffs, demands for economic concessions and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have pushed Ottawa to reduce its dependence on its neighbour and pursue deeper economic, security and political relationships with Europe. At a joint press conference in Saint Pierre and Miquelon on Sunday, Macron said the two countries would work together for closer ties on f...