A United States senator wants Canada to cough up a $300 billion “make up payment” for what he claims are Canada’s “shortfalls” on military spending over the past two decades.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, made the demand during a plenary at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. The alleged “shortfalls” referred to the fact that Canada has not spent 2 per cent of its national GDP on the military, a target formally set by NATO in 2006.
The American lawmaker claimed that NATO members, including Canada, who have not met that target are responsible for a $2 trillion USD shortfall in collective military spending.
“In some respects those who have done that are responsible for what’s going on in Ukraine right now,” he claimed, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “What would $2 trillion of modernization mean to NATO if we made the investment at the time that we said we were going to? [...] $300 billion from Canada alone.”
The $2 trillion figure is likely derived from a report published in March by the American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank based in Washington D.C.
The report’s authors came up with the figure based on military expenditures of NATO members between 2000 — six years before the 2 per cent target was actually formalized — and 2024. The report did not provide a dollar value for Canada’s alleged shortfall specifically.
Tillis also suggested that Canadians should not criticize the lack of a universal public healthcare system in the U.S. because the U.S. spends heavily on its military.
“Some people look down the nose of the United States for not having the same access to healthcare as Canada,” said Tillis. “On the other hand, we’ve consistently met our obligation to funding our mutual defence for as long as NATO has been in existence.”
“But I’ve heard other politicians in Canada say well we gotta get to it, but we have these domestic policies that we have to work on first. Which one is it, guys? We’ve got to speak truth to our family members.”
When former U.S. congresswoman and plenary moderator Jane Harman reminded Tillis that Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to reach 2 per cent of GDP in military spending by March 2026, Tillis replied: “Can we do a makeup payment for the 20 years of shortfalls as well?”
“It’s fine to say you’re about to catch up, but it’s not fine to look past a $300 billion shortfall and then sometimes criticize another country for not placing a priority on healthcare.”
He admitted that the U.S. could probably improve healthcare if it cut military spending.
“Well we could, if we were to cut, let’s say our NATO, our mutual defence budget by […] let’s say we just get back to 2 per cent, then we probably could address other healthcare issues here. Which one do we want?”
According to the United States Census Bureau, approximately 27 million Americans had no health insurance coverage in 2024. Millions of those who do have private coverage regularly face claim denials.
The U.S. spent $997 billion USD on its military in 2024, more than three times the amount spent by China, its nearest competitor. U.S. military spending last year was the equivalent of 3.4 per cent of its national GDP.
Carney’s 2025 federal budget committed $81.8 billion in military spending over five years, the largest cash injection into the military since the Korean War. Other departments besides the Department of National Defence face deep spending cuts.
The Liberal government’s national pharmacare program received no additional funding, and no further negotiations with provincial governments for implementing the program are scheduled.
Carney has promised to reach 5 per cent of national GDP in military spending by 2035, the new NATO target that was first demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump this year. For Canada, that target is the equivalent of approximately $150 billion per year.
$300 billion USD, the “makeup payment” demanded by Tillis, is the equivalent of approximately $423 billion Canadian. The federal government’s entire expenditures in 2024 totalled $534.5 billion.
The Maple requested an interview with Tillis via the Halifax International Security Forum’s communications team, but did not receive any response. Tillis was absent from a press conference held by U.S. congressional delegates on Saturday evening.
Tillis announced in June that he would not seek re-election in 2026, following public attacks on him by Trump. He has served as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and currently serves as co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group.
His website also states that he is a “staunch supporter of Israel” and notes that he called on the United States to stand behind Israel after it launched its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.
Tillis has co-sponsored legislation targeting advocates for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
