Overview
- The Department of Defense announced earlier this week that it is pausing U.S. participation in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, saying Canada has not shown “credible progress” on defence commitments.
- Pentagon officials say they want a funded roadmap that shows how Canada will reach NATO’s new core spending goal of 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035 and they have urged a rapid, transparent conclusion to Canada’s delayed review of the planned purchase of 88 F‑35 fighters.
- U.S. officials stressed the pause does not affect NORAD operations and called NORAD critical to continental defence while warning its mutual benefit depends on Canada’s proportional contributions.
- Ottawa points to meeting NATO’s earlier 2 percent target and to recent investments in Arctic security, shipbuilding and base upgrades, but independent analysts and the Parliamentary Budget Office say Canada has not published detailed projections showing how it will meet the 2035 target.
- Coverage diverges on motive and risk: some commentators frame the move as a targeted U.S. bargaining step driven by Pentagon policy actors, others treat it as a formal rebuke of Canada, and the next developments to watch are a Canadian spending roadmap, a decision on the F‑35 file, and whether Washington restores formal PJBD engagement.