Trump presses Trudeau over NATO defence spending
TRUMP CALLS TRUDEAU OUT ON MILITARY SPENDING AT NATO SUMMIT
LONDON • U.S. President Donald Trump put Justin Trudeau on the spot Tuesday over Canada’s NATO defence spending.
“What are you at? What is your number?” Trump pointedly asked, referring to how much Canada spends on NATO defence as a percentage of its GDP. The two men met on the sidelines of a major NATO military alliance meeting in London.
Trudeau replied, “The number we talk about is 70 per cent increase over these past few years.” He then mentioned “significant” spending on jets and naval vessels.
But Trump, who has repeatedly demanded that all NATO allies meet a benchmark figure of two per cent of GDP, was not to be diverted from his question.
“Where are you now in terms of your number?” he asked again.
That prompted Trudeau to look to his delegation, which included Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, who offered several answers before Trudeau replied with 1.4 per cent. Last week, NATO estimated Canada would spend about 1.31 per cent of its GDP on its military this year.
“They’re getting there,” Trump told reporters. “They know it’s important to do and their economy is doing well. They’ll get there quickly I think.”
But Trudeau also defended Canada’s contribution to NATO.
“Canada has been there for every NATO deployment. We have consistently stepped up,” he said. “It’s important to look at what is actually being done.”
The U.S. president appeared ready to give Canada a pass during his meeting with the prime minister, the first face-to-face meeting between the two North American leaders since Trudeau won re-election in October. Trump had already blasted “delinquent” countries that spend one per cent or less of their GDPs on their militaries as “unacceptable” while describing Canada as “just slightly delinquent.”
All 29 NATO members agreed in 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, to stop cutting their defence budgets and work toward investing two per cent of their gross domestic products on their militaries within the next decade.
Trump, whose country spends far more on defence than any other NATO member, both in raw cash and as a share of GDP, has personally taken up the target as critical for ensuring all members of the 70-year-old military alliance are contributing their fair share.
The Liberals’ defence plan is only expected to hit 1.4 per cent of GDP in the 2024-25 fiscal year and does not provide any timetable beyond that for reaching two per cent.
Even then, Canada’s figure comes after the Liberals in 2017 changed the way the government calculates defence spending to include such things as veterans’ programs and Coast Guard. The change was approved by NATO.
The Liberal government has refused to say whether it believes in the two-per-cent target and has instead repeatedly pointed to Canada’s contributions to NATO missions in Latvia, Iraq and other places as a better measurement of its contributions to the military alliance.
Those efforts were welcomed by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who described Canada in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press as a “highly valued ally” and commended its progress in raising its defence spending in recent years.
Yet Stoltenberg also reiterated the importance of individual allies investing more in their own defence — and that he expects NATO members to honour the pledges that they have made.
“I understand that most politicians would like to spend on health care, on education, on infrastructure, but when we live in a more uncertain world, we have to also invest in our security and that’s exactly what we are all doing,” he said.
“European allies and Canada should not invest in defence to please the United States. They should invest in defence because it is in our security interests to do so. Therefore I welcome Canada has started to invest more.”
In a separate interview, Latvian President Egils Levits told The Canadian Press that the two-per-cent target was justified given the current level of instability and uncertainty facing NATO members, including the threat posed by a newly resurgent Russia.
“If we are committed to our democracy, we should defend,” said Levits, whose country borders Russia.
“And two per cent of spending for defence is one very good and very important contribution to defend democracy in our countries . ... This was a common decision of all member states and if we are deciding something, we have at least a moral obligation to do that.”