Nato allies pressure Canada to step up spending at Washington summit

Canada is under mounting pressure to increase its military spending as it continues to fall short of the target set out for Nato members, raising fears that the country is becoming an outlier among its allies.

That message is expected to be made clear this week as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends the Nato summit in Washington DC to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary.

Canada, a Nato-founding member, ranks seventh overall in the amount of money spent on defence among the 32-nation alliance.

But it falls way short of the alliance’s doctrine, which requires Nato countries to spend at least 2% of their GDP on the military.

Using that metric, Canada – which spends 1.34% of its GDP on its military – is ahead of only Slovenia, Turkey, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg in the alliance.

By contrast, the UK spends just over 2% of its GDP on its military, while the US spends nearly 3.5%.

Canada’s defence budget currently stands at C$27bn ($19.8bn, £15.5bn), though the Trudeau government has promised in its most recent budget that it will boost spending to almost C$50bn by 2030.

Still, that would only make up 1.76% of Canada’s GDP, meaning the country will continue to lag behind its allies in the coming decade.

Frustration with Canada was made clear in a letter sent in May to Mr Trudeau by 23 bipartisan US senators.

“We are concerned and profoundly disappointed that Canada’s most recent projection indicated that it will not reach its two percent commitment this decade,” the senators wrote.

The US ambassador to Canada David Cohen has also taken note, saying in a recent interview with Global News that Canada is now “the outlier in the entire alliance”.

In less diplomatic remarks, US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that it is “shameful” Canada has not hit the 2% mark.

“Talk about riding America’s coattails,” he said.

In response, Canada’s defence minister, Bill Blair, said at the Foreign Policy Security Forum on Monday that the country will soon share a “credible, verifiable plan” to boost its military spending.

“I’m very confident that it’s going to bring us to that threshold,” Mr Blair said.

Meanwhile, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, Kristen Hillman, told reporters that while the pressure is on to step up, there is also “a strong recognition that Canada is a steadfast ally in all aspects”.

The alliance finds itself at a critical moment.

Member nations are dealing with a more aggressive Russia that is continuing to wage a war in Ukraine.

There is also the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House, who successfully pushed European Nato members to boost spending when he was US president.

Mr Trump has continued to speak on Nato spending on the campaign trail, once floating the idea of letting Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to alliance members who failed to meet targets.