A bipartisan team of US lawmakers urged Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to come up with a strategy to meet the Nato’s pledge to raise defence spending to 2 % of the country’s gross domestic product.
21 different senators and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate Nato observers party, wrote to Prime Minister Trudeau on Thursday, requesting that Canada meet the security spending target that members of the protection alliance had agreed to in 2006 and that it be renewed as late as 2023.
In April, Trudeau’s administration released a policy update that forecasts an increase in security spending at 1.76 % of GDP by 2030. The new strategy places a lot of focus on protecting Canada’s Arctic, which is in danger of becoming increasingly dangerous from Russia and China.
The US lawmakers wrote that they’re” concerned and deeply unhappy” that Canada perhaps still fall short of the 2 % commitment. When North Atlantic Treaty Organization people gather in Washington this summer, it’s undoubtedly a subject.
” The United States ‘ determination to Nato is unwavering”, they wrote. By the time of the mountain in July,” we will anticipate that your state and each other NATO member who have not yet met the 2 % defence spending level have a plan to meet this standard as soon as possible.”
Democrats Joe Manchin, Tammy Duckworth, and Jeff Merkley are also among the letter’s participants, along with Republicans Tim Scott, Mitt Romney, and Ted Cruz.
The president’s defense budget may increase by 27 % next year, according to Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair, and the most recent defense policy update places a “very important and necessary emphasis on western defense” on the agenda. He pointed to a promised investment of nearly C$ 40 billion ($ 29.1 billion ) in upgrading systems under Norad, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
We are aware that Canada needs to invest in other resources that are n’t yet included in the budget, Blair continued, mentioning submarines and air-missile defense systems, which are anticipated to boost the country further 2 %.
The senators ‘ letter comes less than a week after Blair and Lloyd Austin, the US’s defence secretary, visited Washington.
” I’m confident that I can tell those involved legislators that Canada will be a willing and able alliance to NATO in North America, NORAD, and elsewhere in the world,” Blair said.
