Canada ready to further distance itself from U.S. on military procurement

The flareup in the Canada-U.S. tariff war has not only strengthened Ottawa’s resolve to boost military co-operation with Europe and Asia — it's also hurting prospects of major military purchases from the United States.

In an interview, the head of the Defence Investment Agency says the Canadian public would have no appetite for sole-source military contracts to American firms.

"That's just me reading the room," said Stephen Fuhr, secretary of state for defence procurement. "I think that would be a very difficult thing to do, especially after this last week. I think that people would not be happy about that."

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Canada's retaliatory tariff response announced this week did not directly target the defence sector. However, Fuhr's comments suggest a growing reluctance toward potential acquisitions of U.S. military hardware.

He added that Canada must not act as though relations will simply return to normal after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029.

While Canada has pledged tens of billions of dollars in additional defence spending over the coming years, it wants to put an end to the era during which 70 per cent of those funds flowed south of the border.

"We are in a situation that we didn't provoke, we’re in a position that we don’t deserve," Fuhr said. "We're on the receiving end of this change, and it's our job to look for new opportunities and pivot as fast as we can to meet the moment, and never put ourselves back in this position again."

Fuhr still describes the United States as a key defence ally, but insists that Canada has learned the perils of "putting all our eggs in one basket." Above all, he wants Canada to become increasingly self-reliant in terms of military production, or to forge new strategic alliances.

"So working with others who want to work with us and add value to what we're doing, I think we're carefully considering that a lot more. Again, not to diminish the relationship with our traditional partner, but things are different now, and it's been very clear that the relationship that we had will be different moving forward," Fuhr said.

Justin Massie, a military affairs expert at l'Université du Québec à Montréal, said Canada has no choice but to adjust its defence policy to align with the new American reality.

"The United States wants the burden of defending its allies to rest squarely on the shoulders of its allies," Massie said. "They are tired of calling on American taxpayers to fund the defence of Europe and Canada."

Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says Canada will still need to find a way to keep working with the United States on continental defence, even as the country’s defence budget is heading to more than two per cent of GDP.