Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK are gaining momentum with the CANZUK alliance plan, which will help check the Trump administration through trade and diplomatic cooperation
03/05/2025
Yoshinari Kurose
London Bureau Chief
Sankei Shimbun Newspaper
‘We need to find new friends’, says Canadian Prime Minister Carney.
The movement to create a new union called CANZUK is gaining momentum among the four countries that make up the Commonwealth of Nations, with King Charles as head of state: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Trump administration has been pursuing destructive foreign and trade policies under the guise of ‘Reviving America’.
As the plan unfolds, the four countries, which share the same language and values, will seek to increase their influence through strategic co-operation and survive in the multi-polar world of the future.
Four countries sharing values
‘We need to find new friends, because our neighbours who were our friends are now just neighbours.’ Canadian Prime Minister Carney made these remarks at a rally for the ruling Liberal Party’s leadership election in February before taking office, calling for strengthening ties with other countries in order to counter the Trump administration which has announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian imports.
Carney also called out the UK and other countries by name, emphasising that he would ‘renew traditional relationships and diversify trading partners’ with some countries. He made similar claims at the candidate debate held on the 24th of the same month.
In response, CANZUK International (headquartered in Canada), a private organisation that advocates for the CANZUK initiative, expressed its welcome saying that ‘Mr Carney has supported the initiative’.
CANZUK is an acronym for the four countries of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The predecessor organisation to CANZUK International was founded in 2015 by British political activist James Skinner (t changes its name it its current name in 2017) and has worked to promote the idea of strengthening cooperation between the four countries in the fields of trade, diplomacy, and military affairs, as well as the free movement of people between the countries.
Canada, Australia and New Zealand were once British colonies, then became self-governing territories, and eventually achieved independence. All four countries have adopted English as their official language. They also share traditional democratic political systems, legal systems, and economic and trade practices, as well as values such as freedom of speech and assembly, and a market economy.
The four countries also fought together in two world wars and contributed to the Western victory in the Cold War.
‘These four countries have a lot in common, and their economies are very similar’ said Elliott Malik, a senior official at the Conservative Friends of CANZUK, a grassroot group of young Conservatives working to popularise the idea in the UK.
Bipartisan support
The CANZUK concept first came to the forefront in 2016 after the UK voted to leave the EU (Brexit) in a referendum.
The Conservative government in the UK at the time, facing inevitable isolation in Europe as a result of Brexit, sought a way forward in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan. At the same time, the argument that CANZUK was a cayalyst for the revitalisation of the UK gained momentum, especially among conservatives who had supported Brexit.
Furthermore, with the inauguration of the second Trump administration in the United States in January this year, bipartisan support for the CANZUK initiative is spreading not only in the UK, but also in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which are opposed to Trump’s tariffs.
In Canada, the Conservative Party put forward the idea as an official policy in 2018, and the Liberal Party led by Mr. Carney has also taken a more positive stance on the idea. In fact, Mr. Carney, who became Prime Minister in March this year, chose the UK and France as his first overseas destinations, proposing to strengthen ties with both countries in reaction to Mr. Trump’s bold statement that ‘Canada will become the 511dt state of the United States.’
In the UK, in an interview with the Financial Times (March 21), David Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third largest centrist party, expressed support for CANZUK, saying that Trump’s America ‘cannot be trusted as an ally’.
Meanwhile, British Labour Prime Minister Starmer, who believes Brexit has failed, is working to repair relations with the EU, while also considering the option of exploring a US-UK free trade agreement (FTA) proposed by the US administration, and has not openly expressed support for the CANZUK idea at this time.
However, there is a strong sense that Starmer is calling on non-European countries to expand military support for Ukraine, with CANZUK in mind, due to his sense of crisis that the US administration is trying to bring a hasty end to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, and is essentially abandoning Ukraine.
On April 22, he met with New Zealand Prime minister Luxon in London and confirmed continued support for Ukraine and strengthening security cooperation.
They have also indicated their intention to participate in the country’s proposal to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, and it is highly likely that support for Ukraine will create momentum for strategic cooperation among the four countries.
Geopolitical considerations
CANZUK advocates say opinion polls also show growing support for the idea of four-nation cooperation.
According to research firm YouGov, the most popular country among Brits is Canada with 81% approval rating, followed by Australia with 78%. New Zealand is fifth with 77% approval rating.
In addition, a 2018 poll conducted by CANZUK International in the four countries found that 68% of respondents in the UK, 76% in Canada, 73% in Australia and 82% in New Zealand supported the free movement of people between countries.
The four-nation alliance is also intended to secure geopolitical influence in each region.
David Moore, a senior member of the Conservative Friends of CANZUK, said ‘If the CANZUK security cooperation framework is established, the four countries will be able to continue supporting Ukraine while also countering the threat from China in the Indo-Pacific region. At the same time, if a supply chain is established between the four countries, it will be possible to break away from economic dependence on China.’
CANZUK could be a lever for Canada to check the United States, the UK to check the EU, and Australia and New Zealand to check China.
In particular, even if it is impossible for Canada to match the United States, the world’s largest superpower, in terms of military power, it will be possible to secure a certain degree of influence. It is highly likely that this will have an effect in repelling the kind of unreasonable pressure that the Trump administration has imposed on Canada.
In addition, under the Trump administration, authoritarian powers such as China and Russia, as well as the United States itself, are becoming increasingly authoritarian, putting liberal values, the international order, and the spirit of tolerance at risk of an unprecedented crisis. At a time like this, CANZUK’s emergence as a defender of liberal democracy is of great significance.
Japan would also welcome this move if CANZUK were to provide an opportunity for multi-layered security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, in addition to frameworks such as the Japan-US, Japan-US-ROK, and US-British-Australia AUKUS, in light of the threat of a Taiwan emergency and North Korea.