Canada, Germany Refuse NATO Spending Hike

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

A NATO plan intended to force its members to commit to significantly boosting their military spending has been overturned by refusal of Canada and Germany, before it could be even presented to alliance leaders in Wales on Thursday.

NATO’s top commander, U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, and alliance Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, were anticipated to demand the summit to push countries to commit to spending two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence due to the worsening situation in Ukraine. So far, the target have only been met by the U.S., Estonia, the United Kingdom and Greece. However, Germany and Canada have both said they won’t agree to it. A senior Canadian government official mentioned that “we are open to increasing military spending when and where it makes sense and in response to particular needs,” adding that “but the notion of setting an arbitrary target does not make sense.”

Whereas on the other hand, the prime minister’s spokesman, Jason MacDonald, mentioned in his remarks on Tuesday night that Canada has agreed to “compromise language” with NATO allies. It was stressed that “we agree with our NATO allies that it is important to continue increasing our defence spending, and we have committed to doing so” adding that “we have agreed to compromise language with our NATO allies and the commitment agreed to will be reflected in the NATO Summit statement to be issued later this week.” It was concluded that “regarding the two per cent, specifically, it is an aspirational target and will be acknowledged as such in the Summit statement.”