As Canada and Europe look to partner on defence, what could that look like?

As Canada has sought to reduce its reliance on U.S. gear, it has been in talks with the European Union about a possible "security and defence partnership."

As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the future of the NATO military alliance, Canada is looking to partner with the European Union on defence.

Here’s a closer look at what’s driving this major shift in transatlantic relations.

Trump has said that Washington won’t necessarily defend NATO allies — a threat that undermines the entire point of the alliance, said defence policy analyst Federico Santopinto.

“Europeans feel very vulnerable without the United States,” said Santopinto, a senior researcher at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs.

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed just how much the continent had come to depend on American defence spending.

While European nations have spent roughly the same as the U.S. on military aid for Kyiv, Washington has provided Ukraine with indispensable intelligence and surveillance and reconnaissance equipment that Europe lacks.

When the U.S. and Germany — alarmed by the prospect of direct conflict with Moscow — prevented Ukraine from using American and German weapons to hit targets deep within Russia, many EU nations saw how their own hands might be tied if they needed to use donated gear in some future conflict.

“The war in Ukraine taught everybody that when you wage war, you need to be sovereign over the weapons you have,” Santopinto said.