U.S. envoy closely eyes Canada defence spending; says NATO about collective defence

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra poses for a portrait at the U.S. Embassy, in Ottawa, Friday, June 6, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — The American ambassador to Canada is closely watching as Ottawa shapes its defence budget, but says the U.S. will not dictate what the Canadian government must spend.

“We’re not expecting anything; that’s not our job to make those expectations,” Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said in an interview with The Canadian Press this past Friday, a day after NATO defence ministers endorsed new spending targets.

Hoekstra also said the point of the NATO military alliance is to defend each other when under attack.

He noted Americans haven’t forgotten the “investment and the sacrifice” Canadian troops made in Afghanistan when the U.S. invoked the NATO treaty’s article on collective defence.

“They were fulfilling the commitment that they made to NATO -- that when one of us is attacked we are all attacked, and we will defend each other,” Hoekstra said of Canadian soldiers.

Hoekstra was not directly commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement in March that Washington would not necessarily come to the aid of countries that don’t pay their fair share on defence and that Canada has been freeloading on American defence of the continent.

He did acknowledge Canada’s defence spending has been an “irritant” in the relationship with the U.S.

This past week, defence ministers from NATO countries met in Brussels to discuss raising the member spending target on defence to as much as five per cent of GDP.

Canada has never met NATO’s existing spending target of two per cent since it was established in 2006.

Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney are engaged in what both sides have characterized as “intensive” discussions toward the new economic and security deal the two leaders agreed to work on once the Canadian election concluded in April.

NATO figures suggest Canada’s defence spending rose from about one per cent in 2014 to 1.33 per cent in 2023. The NATO secretary-general’s annual report, released in April, said Canada’s defence spending would hit 1.45 per cent for 2024.

In terms of absolute dollars, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute analysis last year said Canada ranks as the seventh largest spender in NATO, and the 14th largest in the world.

Carney promised during the recent election campaign to move up Canada’s deadline for meeting the 2 per cent threshold from 2032 to 2030 or sooner but has not yet shown a plan for how to do that.

It will require Canada to add billions of new dollars annually.

Carney’s office said he will be making “an announcement on defence and security priorities” Monday in Toronto.

The prime minister is set to join other heads of government from NATO countries for an annual summit starting June 24 in the Netherlands.

They are expected to approve a new defence investment plan that defence ministers hammered out this week, which would have member nations invest 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence spending, and 1.5 per cent on defence and security-related investment such as infrastructure and resilience.

That proposal is coming amid waning American commitments and a revanchist Russia.

In recent years, both Democrats and Republicans have urged Canada to boost its Arctic defence, and the previous Biden administration praised much of what Ottawa outlined in an Arctic foreign policy last year.

Trump has suggested defence of the Arctic is part of his “Golden Dome” plan for a continental missile-defence shield. On May 27, the president said he told Ottawa it would cost US$61 billion to be part of the project.

Hoekstra said he hasn’t seen a breakdown of the costs, but said the “really awesome technology” is likely estimated at “proportionally what we think the Canadian share should be.”

Defence Minister David McGuinty said Canada was reviewing its defence spending from “top to bottom” and would have more to say about its plans soon, though the government isn’t planning to table a budget until the fall.

Hoekstra framed NATO as part of the wide partnership the U.S. has with Canada in security, which also includes secure energy flows and stopping illicit drugs.

“We need to do the things that will keep our citizens safe,” Hoekstra said.

“There are a lot of things that Americans and Canadians have in common, and we’re looking forward to great days.”

Hoekstra said Trump is trying to take the U.S. off an unsustainable trajectory, which he framed as millions of people crossing the U.S. border undocumented, spending way beyond government revenue and large trade deficits.

“The president is transforming that, because we need to,” he said.

Trump’s discussions with Carney will likely include the sweeping reform of border security that the Liberals tabled in Parliament last week. Hoekstra had yet to go through the legislation as of Friday.

The ambassador said he’s focused on win-win policies for both countries and not the prospect of Canada becoming an American state, despite Trump raising the notion as a way for Canadians to save on the cost of joining his Golden Dome project.

Former Canadian diplomat Colin Robertson has said Hoekstra is limited in how much he can diverge from Trump’s comments. But he said the ambassador has great access to the president, and his public messaging likely reveals how he has been advising Trump.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press