US suspends part of military cooperation with Canada

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Defense is suspending part of its military cooperation with Canada amid growing tensions between the two neighbors, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday, accusing Ottawa of failing to meet its defense commitments.

Elbridge Colby said on X that the United States was putting work within the Permanent Joint Board on Defense on hold because Canada had not done enough on defense policy.

"We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality," Colby wrote.

The bilateral defense body was established in 1940 to coordinate security and defense issues between the two neighbors. It includes senior military and government representatives from both countries.

Colby suggested Canada needed to invest more heavily in its own military capabilities.

"Only by investing in our own defense capabilities will Americans and Canadians be safe, secure, and prosperous," he wrote.

In his post, Colby linked to a speech Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. In the widely noted address, Carney said the U.S.-led global order was fracturing under pressure from great power competition and the erosion of rules-based cooperation.

U.S. President Donald Trump reacted angrily to the speech at the time.

Relations between the United States and Canada have deteriorated since Trump returned to office in January 2025. In addition to trade tariffs, ties have been strained by Trump's repeated remarks about making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 6:20 PM.