Americas

Americas

Ottawa’s plans to prepare for the next U.S. president do not include defence spending concessions

06 November 2024 10:07 (UTC +04:00)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet have been in planning mode for months to prepare for the next U.S. president, but those preparations do not include concessions on defence spending, APA reports citing The Globe and Mail.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Bill Blair stood by the eight-year timeline to meet the NATO goal of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. The date is years behind most other NATO allies.

“I’ve already shared with NATO, I think, a strong plan to get where we need to be by 2032 and we’re going to do it,” Mr. Blair said.

Defence spending has become more of an irritant in the relationship in part because Canada has let its role as a strategic ally with the U.S. slip, said Andrea van Vugt, who served as foreign affairs and trade adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper. In years past, the U.S. relied on Canada for energy, but she said almost two decades have passed since that was the case and Ottawa has failed to supplant that with something else.