U.S. Pauses Key Defence Accord Despite Carney’s Military Spending Hike

 

U.S. undersecretary claimed Canada “has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments.”

United States President Donald Trump’s Undersecretary of War Elbridge Colby announced yesterday that the Americans will be pausing a joint defence policy board because he claimed Canada “has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments.”

This is despite the Mark Carney government’s promises to spend an additional $81.8 billion on the military over the next five years and to reach the Trump regime’s demand that all NATO members spend 5 per cent of their GDPs on the military by 2035.

For Canada, that figure amounts to $150 billion in annual spending on the military and related infrastructure.

Writing on X, Colby said: “A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all. Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments. DoW is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense.”

“We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality. Real powers must sustain our rhetoric with shared defense and security responsibilities,” he added, including a link to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at Davos in January, in which he spoke of the fading “rules based order.”

The Permanent Joint Board on Defense was established during the Second World War in 1940 and constitutes a key piece of Canada’s deep military integration with the U.S.  (more...)

U.S. Pauses Key Defence Accord Despite Carney’s Military Spending Hike