US Senators Say Canada’s Current Military Spending Timeline Too Long

Two U.S. senators said Canada needs to swiftly increase military spending in response to threats from China and Russia, noting the country’s current timeline for reaching 2 percent of GDP is an “eternity” for lawmakers in Washington.
“If Donald Trump was sitting right here, you’d get a big guffaw out of him on 2032, because that’s a long ways for what we’re dealing with in the world right now,” said Risch.
Risch said all 32 NATO countries have an obligation to meet the defence spending requirements, and many countries with economies smaller than Canada’s have been able to meet their spending obligations. He said the military alliance is “incredibly important” to Canada at a time when “arch enemy” Russia has been threatening NATO countries with nuclear weapons.
Risch said he did not want to discuss the consequences the U.S. might impose on Canada if it does not increase military spending, but said it “needs to be done now.” He said any threats from Russia and China would come from the Arctic, and thus the Canadian government’s defence policy in Canada “has got to shift on this, or it’s going to be a serious problem.”
Shaheen said the two had spoken with Defence Minister Bill Blair about Canada’s commitment to NATO on Nov. 23, and had also discussed Russian and Chinese “designs” on the Arctic. “This is in our interest in the United States, it’s in Canada’s interest, it’s in the interest of all of those NATO members to see that we remain strong because of the threats that we face,” she said.
Risch said while the northern border is a concern for his state of New Hampshire, the state has a positive relationship with Canada given that a third of its citizens are of Canadian descent. “We’re hoping that we can address some of those concerns,” Risch said regarding illegal immigration from Canada. “We’ve been working with Canadian officials, and we’ve seen some progress, but it’s something that we’ve got to work on because we want to maintain that positive relationship.”