US senators write to Canada’s Trudeau asking him to meet 2% GDP defense spending commitment

A bipartisan group of 23 senators have written to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging his country to live up to its commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense amid concerns that key members of the NATO alliance are not pulling their weight.

A bipartisan group of 23 US senators have written to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging his country to live up to its commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense amid concerns that key members of the NATO alliance are not pulling their weight. “As we approach the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., we are concerned and profoundly disappointed that Canada’s most recent projection indicated that it will not reach its two percent commitment this decade,” the senators wrote. “In 2029, Canada’s defense spending is estimated to rise to just 1.7 percent, five years after the agreed upon deadline of 2024 and still below the spending baseline.” The rare letter from lawmakers to a head of state comes about two months before NATO’s next annual summit in Washington, DC, which will mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. At last year’s leader-level summit, the allies agreed that each member nation should spend at least 2% of its GDP on defense. The senators pointed to that agreement in making their case for Canada to live up to the commitment. And the senators — including Republicans Mitt Romney of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas as well as Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, among others — argued that if Canada falls short of its commitment, it will hurt NATO. “Canada will fail to meet its obligations to the Alliance, to the detriment of all NATO Allies and the free world, without immediate and meaningful action to increase defense spending,” the senators wrote.