Canada 'falling so consistently short' on defence spending has hurt standing on world stage, but improving: U.S. ambassador

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen says while Canada's defence spending is going in the right direction, the federal government's persistent failure to meet NATO targets has been damaging to the country's reputation on the world stage.

Canada is one of the few countries that has yet to meet the alliance's agreed-upon goal to spend two per cent of GDP on defence.

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And the re-election of Donald Trump in the United States has added a new sense of urgency, with many Canadian and American politicians commenting in recent months that the country's lagging contributions on defence will likely become a priority, once again, for the incoming president.

In an interview for CTV's Question Period airing Sunday, Cohen underscored a point he's made previously, that he doesn't believe the percentage of GDP spending should be the only metric by which a country's contribution to the alliance is measured. But he conceded that Canada's failure to meet the target, despite having signed on to it more than a decade ago, is having an impact.

"There is no doubt that what you hear from American politicians, from other NATO allies about Canada falling so consistently short against an important metric, without the nuance of everything that follows, that it has hurt Canada's standing in the world from a defence-related perspective," Cohen told host Vassy Kapelos.

The ambassador — who is set to be replaced with Trump's pick, former Michigan congressman Pete Hoekstra, pending his confirmation by the U.S. Senate in January — added that alliance members see Canada has been "stepping up," pointing to recent spending announcements from the federal government.

"And I think they view Canada as being responsive to these concerns, and I think that will begin to bring Canada's standing in the world back, and to do it pretty quickly," he said.

Cohen said the "nuanced view" of the issue includes taking into account Canada's contributions to not only NATO, but other defence-related initiatives. He pointed specifically to cybersecurity, space, and work in Haiti and Ukraine as line items that don't necessarily count toward the NATO figure.

But, he added, "to be clear, the United States and I would like Canada to spend more on defence."

"And so my concern has been with the what I think is an unhealthy focus on the percentage … of its GDP that Canada spends on defence, that is the one metric that too many people tend to focus on," he added. "I prefer to focus on the rate of spend, what's been happening with Canada's spend and the trajectory of spend."

Cohen said even accounting exclusively for the percentage-of-GDP figure, Canada's spending is on the rise. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged this summer to meet the target by 2032, eight years after the initially agreed-upon deadline.

In interviews on CTV's Question Period in recent months, U.S. House intelligence committee chair and Ohio Rep. Mike Turner said Canada is "already past due" on its commitments, Trump's former ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft said 2032 is "not good enough," and former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Derek Burney called Canada "irrelevant" and "a laggard" on defence spending.

Cohen's more recent comments echo those he's been making for months, however. In an interview on Question Period last June, he said that while Canada needs to spend more on defence, the U.S. does not "measure Canada's commitment to defence by reference to any single metric."

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In his interview, Cohen also discussed border security, amid Trump's threats to hit Canada with 25 per cent tariffs on all imports until it stops the flow of illegal drugs and migrants over the border.

He also shared his views on North American free trade, after the premiers of some provinces suggested Canada establish a bilateral agreement with the United States, cutting Mexico out of the existing deal.

On that issue, Cohen said he comes from "a school of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it,'" and calling the current iteration of NAFTA "really incredible."

You can watch Cohen's full interview on CTV Question Period Sunday morning at 11ET/8PT on CTV and CTV News Channel.