Trudeau’s reported NATO remarks a setback for U.S.-Canada ties: former envoy

A Washington Post report says Trudeau privately told NATO officials that Canada would never meet the military alliance's spending target of two per cent of GDP.

A former U.S. envoy to Ottawa says he’s concerned about what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly said about Canadian defence spending.

David Jacobson, who served as Barack Obama’s ambassador from 2009 to 2013, says a recent Washington Post report could prove to be a setback for future U.S.-Canada relations.

The Post says Trudeau privately told NATO officials that Canada would never meet the military alliance’s spending target of two per cent of GDP.

Jacobson says the comments, if true, risk making it harder for the two countries to resolve future bilateral irritants.

And they could also undermine the faith of the American public in NATO by fuelling the perception that the U.S. shoulders the bulk of the military burden around the world.

Jacobson, who says he doesn’t know if the story is accurate, was speaking at the annual conference of the Canada-U. S. Law Institute.

“It’s one of those things that causes governments to lose confidence,” Jacobson told an audience of lawyers, trade experts and former diplomats at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

“It’s a perfect example of what not to do in order to help solve some of the bilateral issues in both directions that are … legitimately very important to segments of the Canadian public and the American public.”