Carney heads to Europe with military spending on the agenda

Murray Brewster · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 22, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney departs Sunday to conscionable with European and NATO allies amid heightened hostility successful the Middle East and specified hours aft the United States joined Israel's warfare with Iran.

The archetypal halt volition beryllium successful Brussels connected Monday, wherever the premier curate is expected to motion a broad information and defence partnership with the European Union.

U.S. President Donald Trump bailed aboriginal connected past week's G7 summit successful Kananaskis, Alta., saying helium was needed astatine the White House to woody with the evolving warfare wherever Israel is attempting to not lone destruct Iran's atomic capabilities, but to instigate authorities change.

Early Sunday, the U.S. subject bombed three sites successful Iran. Addressing the federation from the White House, Trump claimed Iran's cardinal atomic sites were "completely and afloat obliterated." He besides warned Tehran against carrying retired retaliatory attacks against the United States, saying Iran has a prime betwixt "peace oregon tragedy."

Following his gathering with EU leaders, Carney heads to The Hague, successful the Netherlands, for a slimmed-down NATO summit.

Janice Stein, the founding manager of the Munk School of Global Affairs astatine the University of Toronto, said Western allies are improbable to formally sermon the warfare successful the Middle East due to the fact that it is extracurricular of the Euro-Atlantic sphere.

But, successful an interrogation earlier the U.S. strikes occurred, she said the warfare is simply a "very dynamic concern that could easy escalate."

It whitethorn not beryllium connected the agenda, but leaders "will walk a immense magnitude of clip talking astir it" informally, Stein said.

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Most of the ceremonial docket astatine the NATO acme volition absorption connected the U.S. request that allies up defence spending to 5 per cent of their gross home merchandise (3.5 per cent connected nonstop subject spending and 1.5 per cent connected defence infrastructure).

Recent information published by NATO shows the U.S. was projected to person spent 3.38 per cent of its GDP connected defence successful 2024. Interestingly, the Pentagon precocious published a illustration that projected U.S. defence spending successful 2024 — arsenic a stock of its system — astatine 2.7 per cent. 

While those calculations were released anterior to the Trump administration's caller fund proposals to Congress, defence experts suggest the proposals won't marque overmuch of a difference.

"I volition item that U.S. defence spending itself is low," said Seth Jones, who heads up the defence and information helping of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He says the adjacent U.S. budget's defence spending volition apt beryllium lower, arsenic a stock of the country's economy, than the Carter medication successful the 1970s.

"[That] gives 1 a consciousness of however the U.S. talks a large crippled connected having everybody other summation their defense, but the U.S. is really rather small, historically speaking," helium said.