U.S. pausing long-standing military board with Canada

Senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute Joe Varner says the defence bank could benefit ‘small and medium sized enterprises’ within NATO countries.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. undersecretary of defence said Monday that the United States is pausing a long-standing military board, claiming “Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments.”

In a post on social media, Elbridge Colby said his department is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense “to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense.”

The board was established in 1940 and is an advisory forum for U.S.-Canada bilateral defence co-operation.

Colby said the United States can “can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality” in the post, where he shared a link to a transcript of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

Carney never mentioned U.S. President Donald Trump during the widely applauded speech where he described a “rupture in the world order.” The address did garner the president’s attention and following the speech Trump referred to Carney as “governor.” But Canada has not been the main target of Trump’s ire in recent weeks.

With geopolitical uncertainty heightened by the conflict in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz it’s unclear what led Colby to announce the pause of the defence board with Canada.

Carney has significantly increased Canada’s defence spending, surpassing North Atlantic Treaty Organization targets.

Former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole called the move “profoundly misguided” and said the timing was strange following Trump’s trip to China.

In a post on social media, O’Toole says “Canada has been and will be an ally that shares values of liberty.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2026.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press