NATO goes all-in on Ukraine, Canada gets a slap on the wrist

At the NATO meeting in Washington this week, President Joe Biden announced a new air defense commitment for Ukraine that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also in town, has long wanted. Ukraine’s defense against Russia is a central topic on the occasion of the alliance’s 75th anniversary as Putin steps up the Russian war effort.

Despite its own military aid and commitments to Ukraine, which run into the billions, Canada has been getting plenty of attention for its lack of spending. US officials criticize PM Justin Trudeau’s government for failing to meet NATO’s defense-spending target of 2% of GDP – it hit just the 1.38% GDP mark last year.

On X, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivanposted, “Our NATO allies must do more to meet these dangerous times, particularly our friends in Canada who continue to freeload off this alliance and have yet to even present a real plan to meet the two percent of GDP minimum defense spending commitment all NATO countries agreed to meet.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who met with Trudeau this week, also called out Canada, posting that “it’s time for our northern ally to invest seriously in the hard power required to help preserve prosperity and security across NATO.”

Awkward … but maybe effective. On Wednesday, Canada announced plans to procure up to a dozen new submarines and, earlier today, Trudeau announced a plan to raise defense spending to hit NATO’s 2% target by 2032. He also said Ottawa would “continue to explore opportunities that will further increase defense spending, and advance Canada’s strategic interest.”