Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is billing a pre-existing plan to grow military spending by 70 per cent over the next 10 years as Canada鈥檚 answer to hat NATO allies spend two per cent of their GDP on defence.
At a news conference wrapping up the two-day NATO summit in Brussels, Trudeau was pressed to provide more details about the U.S. president鈥檚 sudden insistence that allies have agreed to spend more 鈥� and to do it more quickly.
鈥淲e are increasing our defence budget 鈥� indeed, we鈥檙e increasing it by 70 per cent over the next decade,鈥� Trudeau said when asked about what Canada had agreed to during an emergency session of NATO members.
鈥淭his is something that came about following what, quite frankly, was years of declining investment and under-investment by a broad number of NATO allies over the past decades 鈥� including Canada.
鈥淐anada had been also under-investing and neglecting its military investments.鈥�
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He touted his government鈥檚 long-awaited defence policy review, released last June, as the answer to Trump鈥檚 latest demands for more spending from NATO allies. And he said Canada has promised to reverse a decline in military resources with an eye towards the two per cent target.
鈥淲e reaffirmed our commitment to the Wales declaration 鈥� that is something we certainly agree with,鈥� he said of the target, established during the NATO summit in Wales in 2014.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we are pleased that based on the consultation we did with Canadians and our own defence policy review, we鈥檙e moving forward with increasing by 70 per cent our defence investments over the coming decade.鈥�
Including that commitment, however, Canada鈥檚 current defence spending plans are only expected to bring it to 1.4 per cent of GDP, well short of the Wales target.
Canada was never expected to agree to Trump鈥檚 timelines for reaching two per cent. Instead, Trudeau鈥檚 announcement prior to the summit 鈥� plans to lead a new training mission in Iraq and an extension on its role with a NATO battle group in Latvia through 2023 鈥� were aimed at demonstrating a commitment beyond mere dollars.
Following Thursday鈥檚 emergency session of NATO members, Trump declared the military alliance to be 鈥漹ery unified, very strong, no problem.鈥� He said he successfully pushed for NATO members to spend more of their budgets on defence and at a faster pace than expected.
He said NATO is 鈥渕ore co-ordinated鈥� and there鈥檚 a 鈥渂etter spirit for NATO鈥� 鈥� surprising sentiments considering Trump has long made his disdain for the alliance well known, and had even threatened to pull the U.S. out of the alliance over the spending dispute.
A solid Alliance protects democracy, protects our families, and protects our kids鈥� futures.
鈥� Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau)
The Canadian Press
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