By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. decision to suspend planned biannual defense talks with Canada follows deepening concern that Ottawa is failing to take steps to become a "credible" security partner, including by hiking military spending and completing a review of an F-35 fighter jet acquisition, a Pentagon official said on Thursday.
The Pentagon announced on May 18 it was "pausing" its participation in the U.S.-Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defense, the senior advisory body
on North American continental defense established in 1940.
"Canada has yet to make the hard decisions and tradeoffs needed to put it on track to become a credible partner in the mutual defense of our continent and hemisphere," said the Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Canada needs a plan, backed by resources, to raise its core defense spending target from 2% annually to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, the official said.
The official also accused Canada of putting politics ahead of military readiness through its long-delayed review of plans to buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
The review was supposed to wrap up by around September 2025 but has not been completed, amid increasing tension with the United States over trade and suggestions Canada might split the fleet, cutting back on the F-35s and buying some Gripen jets from Swedish company Saab.
"The Canadian government's delays and lack of transparency around its ongoing F-35 review are just one example of the prioritization of politics over our shared responsibility for North America’s defense," the official said.
"The Department welcomes a rapid conclusion to this review."
The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CANADA PLAYS DOWN DEFENSE TENSIONS
U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have clashed over everything from trade to Trump's musings about acquiring Greenland and making Canada the 51st U.S. state.
But the Pentagon increasingly sees the Arctic as a critical region for U.S. national security and the economy. It is pushing longtime allies, particularly within NATO, to become more capable of meaningfully contributing to their own defense.
Carney has said Canada's close ties to the United States were once a strength but have become a weakness, and is publicly seeking to strengthen alliances between what he calls “middle powers” in a world where Washington is considered a less reliable partner.
Still, Carney played down the Pentagon's move to suspend participation in the PJBD.
"I wouldn't overplay the importance of this. We have many aspects of very close defense cooperation with the United States," Carney told reporters on May 19, pointing to joint U.S.-Canadian participation in North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
The Pentagon official acknowledged that the PJBD halt would not impact NORAD operations, calling it "critical to securing the northern approaches to the U.S. and Canadian homelands."
"But its mutual benefit depends on Canada’s ability to contribute proportionately," the U.S. official said.
Carney has vowed to double Canadian exports to other markets in the next decade and signed more than 20 economic and security deals in the last year, including with China, while also negotiating an agreement with India. But Canada still sends nearly 70% of its exports to the U.S.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Nia Williams)
