What would it take for Canada to hit NATO’s 2% defence spending target?

Experts say getting Canada's defence spending to two per cent of GDP is not as simple as moving money around and will require multiple measures and years of planning.

For years, Canada has been under pressure from NATO allies to hit the military alliance’s target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence — something experts say cannot be done with the flick of a switch.

Yet that pressure has only grown under the new Trump administration in the U.S.

Last week, the White House said it expects all NATO allies to be meeting the two per cent target by June, when leaders gather at the Hague for the alliance’s annual summit.

Experts who study Canadian defence and financial policy used words like “impossible” and “not realistic” when asked if hitting that June deadline was feasible.

“You’re talking about increasing our defence spending by almost 50 per cent,” said Stephen Saideman, the Paterson Chair of International Affairs at Carleton University and director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network.

“We simply cannot spend that much money that quickly.”

Even getting to two per cent within the next couple of years would be extremely difficult, those analysts say, largely due to the realities and constraints of procuring military equipment. Regardless of when Canada hits the target, the question will then become how to maintain it or raise it even further.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised defence spending as one of his many grievances with Canada.