MONTREAL: Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday launched a multi-billion-dollar plan to strengthen the Canadian military and rely less on the United States. Carney&#39;s announcement of Canada&#39;s first defense industrial strategy built on themes he has emphasized during his 11-month tenure as President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-threatens-to-stop-opening-of-canadaus-bridge" style="color:#0073e6;">rips</a>&nbsp;through <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-threatens-canada-with-100-tariff-if-it-completes-china-trade-deal" style="color:#0073e6;">traditional</a> US alliances. The prime minister says Canada has not done nearly enough to defend itself in an increasingly dangerous world and counting on US protection is no longer viable. &quot;We&#39;ve relied too heavily on our geography and others to protect us,&quot; Carney said. &quot;This has created vulnerabilities that we can no longer afford and dependencies that we can no longer sustain,&quot; he added. Carney has become one of the most prominent global voices criticizing Trump&#39;s administration, notably after his speech at the World Economic Forum last month where he said Trump had triggered a &quot;rupture&quot; in the rules-based global order. On Tuesday, Carney also addressed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio&#39;s speech last week to the Munich Security Conference, highlighting what the Canadian leader sees as the widening gap between US and Canadian values. Carney, addressing reporters after giving a speech on the defense plan, pivoted to Rubio&#39;s speech without being asked about it. He cautioned that Trump&#39;s top diplomat had spoken of Washington&#39;s desire to defend &quot;Christian nationalism.&quot; &quot;Canadian nationalism is civic nationalism,&quot; and Ottawa&#39;s mandate was to defend the rights of everyone in a vast and diverse country, Carney said. &quot;There is a rivalry taking place between Canadian nationalism and other forms of nationalism,&quot; he added, speaking in French. In Munich, Rubio said &quot;Western Civilization&quot; was defined by &quot;Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices of our forefathers.&quot; Never be &#39;hostage&#39;&nbsp;Carney&#39;s office said the defense industrial strategy amounts to an investment of &quot;over half a trillion dollars (US$366 billion) in Canadian security, economic prosperity, and our sovereignty.&quot; In addition to direct government defense spending of about CAN$80 billion over the next five years, the plan includes CAN$180 billion in defense procurement and CAN$290 billion in defense and security-related infrastructure through the coming decade, Carney said. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce applauded Carney for having &quot;bet big on Canada.&quot; &quot;The scale of new funding is unprecedented,&quot; the group&#39;s vice president, David Pierce, said in a statement, adding that the plan will be measured by whether the funds produce &quot;a stronger Canadian Armed Forces.&quot; For Carney, the increasingly fragile security relationship with the United States does not mean Canada should do it alone on defense. His government has pursued closer military ties with the European Union and, at the Munich conference, Ottawa formally joined the EU&#39;s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program &mdash; making Canada the only non-European member of the bloc&#39;s defense financing scheme. The prime minister on Tuesday also talked about hopes for new defense export opportunities in Asia, notably with South Korea. The goal is to &quot;be strong enough to be a partner of choice,&quot; the prime minister said. Canada should build &quot;a domestic defense industrial base so we are never hostage to the decisions of others when it comes to our security,&quot; he said. Carney also re-emphasized the need to enforce Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, where warming temperatures caused by climate change are thawing the ice, opening a new era of competition for critical minerals.

Americas

Carney's announcement of Canada's first defense industrial strategy built on themes he has emphasized during his 11-month tenure as President Donald Trump rips through traditional US alliances.

Canada launches huge defense plan to curb reliance on US

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ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump has withdrawn Canada&#39;s invitation to his newly-established&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/board-of-peace-to-work-with-un-for-global-peace-efforts-trump" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Board of Peace</a>&nbsp;on Friday, escalating tensions with America&#39;s northern neighbor. Trump announced the decision on Truth Social, declaring the withdrawal in a formal letter-style post. &quot;Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada&#39;s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,&quot; Trump wrote. <div class="fr-embed" style="line-height: 2;"><iframe src="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115941901312153410/embed" class="truthsocial-embed" style="max-width: 100%; border: 0;" width="600" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div> The move came days after Carney delivered a forceful speech in Davos that warned of a &quot;rupture&quot; in the global order. The Canadian leader criticized great powers for &quot;using economic integration as weapons&quot; and urged middle powers to stop &quot;living within a lie&quot; about the rules-based international system. Diplomatic rebuke follows speech Carney&#39;s address made no direct mention of Trump but challenged the transactional approach to international relations that has defined the US president&#39;s second term. &quot;You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination,&quot; Carney said. The prime minister announced Canada would &quot;take the sign out of the window.&quot; He outlined Canada&#39;s strategy of building coalitions with other middle powers rather than negotiating bilaterally with hegemons &quot;from weakness.&quot; Trump responded by characterizing Canada as &quot;not grateful&quot; for American protection. The Board of Peace withdrawal followed within 48 hours. Board of Peace The Board of Peace was launched by Trump to resolve global conflicts. Approximately 35 nations had joined by late January, including Hungary, Argentina and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pakistan-accepts-us-invitation-to-join-gaza-board-of-peace" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pakistan</a>. The board&#39;s charter describes a mission to &quot;promote stability&quot; and &quot;secure enduring peace&quot; in conflict zones globally, though it was initially conceived to oversee Gaza reconstruction and governance. Several Western allies, including the United Kingdom and France, declined participation after Trump extended&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-putin-accepted-to-join-his-board-of-peace" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">invitations</a>&nbsp;to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Relations at low point The diplomatic snub reflects a broader deterioration in US-Canada relations since Trump took office in January 2025. The administration has imposed escalating tariffs on Canadian goods, reaching 35% for many sectors by August 2025. Steel and aluminum face 50% duties, while automobiles and automotive parts carry 25% tariffs. Trump abruptly terminated trade talks in June 2025 after Canada refused to eliminate a 3% digital services tax on American tech firms. Canada retaliated with matching tariffs, contributing to a more than 25% drop in Canadian travel to the United States by early 2026. The US&nbsp;president has repeatedly described Canada as a potential &quot;51st state&quot; and suggested using &quot;economic force&quot; for annexation.&nbsp; Canadian response hardens Carney, who took office in 2025, initially sought accommodation with Trump but has shifted to what he calls &quot;value-based realism.&quot; His government has cut taxes, fast-tracked $1 trillion in infrastructure investments, and pledged to double defense spending by decade&#39;s end. Canada has signed 12 new trade and security agreements across four continents in six months and concluded strategic partnerships with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/canadas-carney-hails-strategic-partnership-in-talks-with-xi" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">China</a>, Qatar and the European Union. Carney has focused on building &quot;variable geometry&quot; coalitions on issues from Arctic sovereignty to critical minerals. Public sentiment in Canada has hardened sharply. Recent polling shows 64% of Canadians hold negative views of the United States, the highest level in two decades. Meanwhile, 77% lack confidence in Trump. Arctic tensions persist Canada has aligned closely with Greenland and Denmark following Trump&#39;s stated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-takes-davos-stage-as-greenland-dispute-looms-over-transatlantic-ties" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">interest</a>&nbsp;in acquiring the Danish territory. The Canadian PM pledged support for Greenland&#39;s &quot;unique right to determine&quot; its future and announced unprecedented investments in Arctic defense infrastructure, including over-the-horizon radar, submarines and aircraft. &quot;Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focused talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic,&quot; Carney said in Davos. The prime minister described Canada&#39;s new approach as refusing to accept &quot;the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.&quot; He argued middle powers must &quot;combine to create a third path&quot; rather than competing for favor from hegemons.

US President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 7, 2025. (AFP)

The withdrawal of the notification has followed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's recent speect at Davos against yielding to the US pressure over Greenland.

Articles tagged with "Trump Canada relations"

Canada launches huge defense plan to curb reliance on US

Trump axes Canada’s Board of Peace invitation