Sen. Tillis Urges Canada to Pay $300B for 20 Years of NATO Shortfalls

HALIFAX — Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Canada should not only meet NATO spending targets going forward but also make up for roughly two decades of under‑funding — an amount he estimated at $300 billion.

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering of defence and security officials, Tillis asked:

“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 fun to look past a $300 billion shortfall,” he added, appearing as one of eight members of a bipartisan congressional delegation attending the conference.

The exchange took place against the backdrop of tensions between Canada and the United States and the decision by Washington to bar some senior U.S. defence officials from participating in the forum. The conversation also touched on NATO’s defence spending benchmarks — the near‑term 2 percent of GDP target and a longer‑term, more ambitious guideline adopted by some alliance members.

Canada’s response and plans

Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty acknowledged years of declining defence investment following the Cold War but said that era has ended. “When national budgets were tight, other priorities took precedence — and if I'm being honest — we became complacent. Our defence muscles atrophied. Our security muscles atrophied,” he told the forum.

McGuinty described a rapid, large‑scale rebuilding effort: hiring 15,000 troops, renovating 33 bases, ordering hundreds of aircraft and commissioning new destroyers. “We are rebuilding, rearming and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces on a massive scale and at speed,” he said. “I think that I get his position. We respect it, but we're moving forward.”

The government in Ottawa pledged earlier this year to reach NATO’s 2 percent of GDP defence target within the current fiscal cycle and signaled more ambitious long‑term investments in capability and resilience.

Political context

Tillis said he raised the issue with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting in Washington, arguing successive governments had promised to meet NATO benchmarks but failed to do so. He blamed both Liberal and Conservative administrations for prioritizing social programs and other domestic spending over defence increases.

Not all panelists shared Tillis’s call for retroactive payments. Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine criticized recent U.S. trade moves — including steep tariffs on steel and aluminum — as damaging to the bilateral relationship and warned they risk turning neighbours into adversaries.

“The deeper problem is the cultural break, the idea that Canadians now don't think of Americans as their friends and their neighbors, but as an adversary,” King said.

The debate at Halifax underlined growing pressure on NATO members to clarify burden‑sharing, while also highlighting the political sensitivities that arise when allies publicly call one another to account.