#Carney spoke w/ Ursula #vonderLeyen, president of the European Commission, on Sunday, & military industrial cooperation was discussed….

“Our cooperation w/ #Canada has intensified & should be further enhanced, also to strengthen trans-Atlantic #security,” said the #EU document, released on Wednesday. It added that talks were underway “including on respective initiatives to boost defense industry production.”

Since #Trump’s election, #Canada has been increasingly aligning itself more closely w/partners across the Atlantic, seeking to diversify #trading partners & #defense #allies away from its core relationship w/the #UnitedStates.

In a document prepared by the #EU to lay out the plans for its #defense initiative, Canada was explicitly mentioned, hinting to the talks to absorb the country into the EU #military industry project.

…#Trump has been insisting that #Canada should simply become part of the #UnitedStates, citing the dependence on the American #military as one argument.

On Tues, PM #MarkCarney announced that Canada had struck a radar technology deal w/ #Australia.

Canada’s military industry, which is relatively small, has been used to produce Canadian equipment but has also been a regular contractor for building American military equipment or parts.

Under the current talks, #Canada would help supply the additional 35% & could go further if it brokered an additional agreement to participate even more closely.

Canada, acc/to the terms of the discussion, would also be given preferential access to the #EU market for #military equipment, an alternative to buying equipment from the #US.

The #EU is taking major steps to increase #military spending, both loosening budget rules so that countries in the bloc can spend more & proposing a 150B euro loan program to finance shared military development.

That program is meant to prioritize European-made products, with 65% of component costs coming either from within the bloc or from partners that have signed a specific type of deal with it.

Shaken by a crisis in the 2 nations’ longstanding #alliance since #Trump’s election, #Canada has started moving closer to #Europe. The #military industry collaboration w/the #EU highlights how traditional #US #allies are deepening their ties without US participation to insulate themselves from Trump’s unpredictable moves.

The work on the #abducted #children by the #Yale School of #PublicHealth #Humanitarian #Research Lab was frozen when #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder in late January halting almost all #ForeignAid. Since then, #MarcoRubio & an official under him, #PeteMarocco, have ended the vast majority of foreign #aid contracts, including the one to the Yale lab.

The closed-door gathering of 34 army chiefs, including #NATO #alliance & #EU members as well as #Japan & #Australia, was a rare - & possibly unprecedented - convening without the #UnitedStates.

The talks aimed in part to assess options & capabilities to guarantee #Ukraine's security in the event of a #ceasefire, including potential European peacekeepers, & to maintain Kyiv's long-term #military strength.

“The Trump administration’s turn away from traditional European alliances and toward Russia will have profound effects on U.S. standing in the world.”
—Heather Cox Richardson, March 6, 2025
#trump #putin #usa #russia #alliance

As part of the potential #ForeignPolicy shift, the #US might NOT defend a fellow #NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the #defense spending threshold [or Trump’s perception of what they spend, which is extremely skewed & based on #disinformation]. If #Trump makes that change, it would mark a significant shift from a core tenet of the #alliance known as #Article5, which says that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them.

But the move to potentially shut down the main pipeline for arms transfers to #Ukraine comes after a contentious meeting between #Trump & Ukrainian President Volodymyr #Zelensky…. The tense exchange Friday raised fears across #Europe that the US could be moving away from the wider Western #alliance.

#Zelensky, of course, responded diplomatically, with real information, explaining the truth & direness of the war #Russia started with #Ukraine (pic)

#Trump responded to #Zelensky’s comment exactly as you’d expect — aggressive bullying & further declarations indicating alignment with #Russia [pic].

#NATO’s secretary general, #MarkRutte of the #Netherlands, said several European countries had pledged to increase their #military spending during a just-completed #summit meeting in #London. He did not list names, but said it was a “very positive” signal. He insisted that #Trump was committed to #NATO, adding, “please stop gossiping” about the possibility that the #UnitedStates would pull out of the #alliance.

[is it gossip when Trump has repeatedly said it himself?]