Justin Trudeau’s dodgy defence promise

Public shame or ridicule can often persuade people to do things they don’t want to. That was the plight of Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, at the NATO summit in Washington in July. For over a decade Canada has been under mounting pressure from its NATO allies, particularly the United States, to increase its defence expenditure so as to hit the alliance’s target of at least 2% of GDP. In 2019 Donald Trump described Canada as “slightly delinquent”. Biden administration officials tut-tut about Canadian spending in private, and label Canada a “bad child”. In his second term, Mr Trump is likely to use stronger language, and find new ways to put pressure on Canada.