Achi news desk-
A bipartisan group of 23 US senators has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging his country to meet its pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defense amid concerns that key NATO members are not pulling their weight.
“As we approach the 2024 NATO summit in Washington, D.C., we are deeply concerned and disappointed that Canada’s latest forecast showed it will not meet its two per cent commitment this decade,” the senators wrote. only, five years after the agreed date of 2024 and still below the baseline of expenses.”
The rare letter from lawmakers comes about two months before the next annual NATO summit in Washington, D.C., which will mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russia continues its war against Ukraine.
At a leader-level summit last year, the allies agreed that each member state should spend at least 2% of its GDP on defence.
And the senators — including Republicans Mitt Romney of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, as well as Democrats Gene Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, among others — argued that if Canada did not honor its pledge, it would hurt NATO.
“Canada will not meet its commitments to the alliance, to the detriment of all NATO allies and the free world, without immediate and significant action to increase defense spending,” the senators wrote.
Canada is a founding member of the Defense Alliance, which now includes 32 countries. The senators noted Canada’s contributions to NATO on several fronts, including taking a leading role in supporting its military operations and developing standards around democracy, economic resilience and human rights.
But the senators also noted that many other states are taking the necessary steps to hit and exceed the 2 percent target.
“By the end of 2024, 18 NATO countries will meet the Alliance’s goal of ensuring NATO’s continued military readiness. This is a historic investment in our collective security, led by NATO allies like Poland, a country that has already exceeded three percent of GDP hers for security expenses,” they wrote.
Earlier this year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he expected Canada to “keep its promise” or outline plans to achieve the goal.
More than a dozen other NATO members — including Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands — have also so far fallen short of the alliance’s target.
But the senators chose to write to Trudeau because they believe Canada — unlike other countries — does not appear to have a plan to hit the target, the congressional aide explained.
While the letter does not mention former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has had a real impact on ongoing efforts to get allies to spend more. During his tenure, Trump repeatedly pressured members to contribute more to the alliance, and to spend more on defense spending overall.
Europeans are also worried about what Trump might do in a possible second term with regard to NATO.
If he wins the election in November, Trump will consider pushing for a two-tier NATO, CNN previously reported. This means that countries that do not meet the spending commitment of 2% of GDP would not be protected by NATO’s Article 5, which guarantees that resources can be used The entire alliance is to protect every single member state if it is attacked.
