‘SLIGHTLY DELINQUENT’
Trudeau deflects questions as Trump calls out Canada over its defence spending
LONDON — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deflected questions from Donald Trump Tuesday about how much Canada is spending on its military even as the mercurial U.S. president threatened trade action against countries that don’t invest enough in their own defences.
The exchange, in which Trump called Canada “slightly delinquent,” came on the sidelines of a major NATO military alliance meeting Tuesday, the first face-to-face meeting between the two North American leaders since Trudeau won re-election in October.
It also came as other NATO members, including the alliance’s secretary-general and the president of Latvia, where 600 Canadian troops are deployed as a check against Russian aggression, reiterated to The Canadian Press the importance of spending more on defence.
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 U.S. president appeared ready to give Canada a pass during his meeting with Trudeau, blasting “delinquent” countries that spend one per cent or less of their GDPs on their militaries as “unacceptable” while describing Canada as “just slightly delinquent.”
Canada spends 1.31 per cent of its GDP — a standard measure of the country’s total economic output — on defence.
“They’re getting up to a level that’s getting to be very acceptable,” said Trump, who at one point threatened trade action against countries that aren’t spending enough.
When asked whether Canada should have a plan for meeting the two-per-cent target, Trump joked: “We’ll put Canada on a payment plan.” But then he turned to Trudeau and asked: “What are you at? What is your number?”
It was at that point Trudeau tried to sidestep the question by pointing to his government’s plan, first unveiled in 2017, to increase Canadian defence spending by 70 per cent over the next 10 years, which includes the purchase of new fighter jets and warships.
“OK,” Trump said, before repeating: “Where are you now in terms of your number?”
Trudeau replied with 1.4 per cent. “They’re getting there,” Trump told reporters. “They know it’s important to do that and their economy is doing well. They’ll get there quickly, I think.”
The Liberals’ defence plan is only expected to hit 1.4 per cent of GDP in the 2024-25 fiscal year.