Washington says Ottawa has failed to live up to its defence commitments
U.S. Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby speaks before the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 4, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
Washington is pausing its participation in the Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board on Defense, saying Ottawa has failed to live up to its defence commitments.
“A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all. Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments,” U.S. Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby said on social media on May 18, while announcing that his department is pausing the board “to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense.”
The board, formed in 1940, consists of both military and civilian representatives from the two countries, and is meant to serve as a forum for strategic discussions related to defence cooperation. During the board’s 2024 meeting in Ottawa, the two countries discussed issues related to NORAD modernization, Arctic security, and defence cooperation in other areas of the world including the Indo-Pacific.
In his announcement, Colby included a link to a speech Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20, in which he asked middle powers to band together, and criticized the United States.
“We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality. Real powers must sustain our rhetoric with shared defense and security responsibilities,” Colby said as he shared the link.
“Delivering on shared continental defense begins by recognizing our shared geography. Only by investing in our own defense capabilities will Americans and Canadians be safe, secure, and prosperous.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of National Defence but didn’t immediately hear back.
Canada has recently ramped up defence spending to align with its NATO commitment of spending 2 percent of annual GDP, amid U.S. criticism over falling short for years. Ottawa said in March that it has now met the 2 percent target and is working toward NATO’s new target of 5 percent by 2035. The new target consists of 3.5 percent for core defence spending, and an additional 1.5 percent on broader defence-related investments, such as protecting critical infrastructure.
“For the past 10 months, we have moved at unprecedented speed and scale – working across over a dozen federal departments and agencies to spend more than $63 billion, the largest year-over-year increase to Canada’s defence spending in generations,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on March 26.
Colby also noted on May 18 that he recently hosted Washington’s envoy to Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, at the Pentagon, saying the two are working together to ensure NATO partners, including Canada, meet the new NATO defence spending target of 3.5 percent of GDP, “a vital investment for North American and Arctic defense.”
Hoekstra has previously warned Ottawa that if Canada doesn’t proceed to buy 88 F-35s, there would be ramifications for the long-standing NORAD, saying an “inferior product” would deteriorate the joint defence capability.
Amid U.S. tariffs last year, Ottawa said that while it has already paid for 16 F-35s made by the American giant Lockheed Martin and would take them, it is reviewing its purchase of the remaining units, and may look for alternatives.
Davos Speech
Carney’s speech at the WEF in Davos came a few days after his visit to Beijing, where he said Ottawa is seeking a “strategic partnership” with China to be ready for a “new world order.” Carney has said his government has a priority to diversify its trading relationship away from the United States amid Washington’s tariffs.
In his WEF speech, Carney said that the rules-based order has been eroded amid escalating rivalry among major powers, without distinguishing between the United States and the Chinese regime. While not naming any countries, he said the great powers are using “economic integration as a weapon, and tariffs as leverage.”
In his own speech at the WEF the next day, U.S. President Donald Trump said Carney “wasn’t so grateful” to the United States, and later rescinded an invitation to Carney to join his newly formed Board of Peace. He subsequently criticized Carney’s new deals with Beijing, saying, “China will eat Canada alive.”
Carney said in response that he has no regrets about his WEF speech, and that his address accurately described the current state of global affairs.