The United States has suspended its participation in a long-standing joint defense advisory body with Canada amid growing tensions between the two allies.
The Pentagon announced it was halting involvement in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, a bilateral council established in 1940 to coordinate defense cooperation and policy recommendations between Washington and Ottawa.
US Assistant Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby said Canada had failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments, criticizing what he described as a widening gap between rhetoric and action.
The move follows escalating disputes between President Donald Trump and Canada, including new US tariffs and Trump’s repeated calls for Canada to become America’s “51st state.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently acknowledged that Canada had relied too heavily on US military protection and pledged a major increase in defense spending.
Ottawa announced plans earlier this year to invest 500 billion Canadian dollars over the next decade to strengthen its defense industry and military capabilities.
The council, originally created under former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, includes military and civilian representatives from both countries and has served as a key platform for North American defense coordination for more than eight decades.
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