Federal party leaders and candidates in the upcoming election say they are committed to getting Canada to meet NATO’s current defence spending target but are resisting the Trump administration’s call on allies to more than double that commitment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants NATO members to spend at least five per cent of their GDP on defence, which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated Friday at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
“I’m not saying overnight,” he told reporters, but “we think that’s what NATO allies need to be spending for NATO to face the threats that itself has identified and articulated.”
“We are as involved in NATO today as we have ever been, and we intend to continue to be. But it has to be a real alliance. And that means that our alliance partners have to increase their own capabilities,” he said.
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Asked whether that the U.S. would also match the five per cent target, Rubio …