Why geography dictates Canada’s engagement with Trump as he messes with NATO – National
US President Donald Trump is widening the rift between the United States and European NATO members with his calls for allies to help him end the war he started with Iran.
Many NATO member states have already been grappling with the future of the alliance after a key member – the United States – threatened to annex Greenland, a territory under its control.
Canada has a different problem: conventions may change, but geography is permanent.
“Locally, no matter what government there is in the United States or any Canadian government, there are certain local factors that cannot be changed,” said Aurel Braun, a professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto.
Twelve countries, including Canada, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 in Washington, DC, in an effort to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO has grown to 32 member states and is the longest-running defense alliance in history.
Article 5 of the agreement, which states that an attack by any member will be met with a response from all, has been invoked only once – by the United States, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Despite that, Trump has consistently said he’s not sure NATO members will be there for the United States if it needs help again, and has downplayed the service of allied troops who have fought — and died — alongside Americans.
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In several posts on social media, Trump has suggested that the US-Israel war against Iran is a test of NATO’s commitment.
“The United States has been informed by the majority of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they do not want to be involved in our War against the Terrorist State in Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost all countries are very much in agreement with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon on Tuesday,” said Trump on Tuesday.
“We will protect them, but they won’t do anything, especially, in a time of need.”
On Thursday, Canada joined the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan in issuing a joint statement regarding Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. In it, countries expressed their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
Braun said the problem with Trump is that he’s “bombshell, vindictive” and has “humiliated, humiliated and mistreated the coalition.”
Trump’s provocations could elicit responses from NATO allies driven by anger or a sense of betrayal, making it difficult for them to focus on real issues, Braun added.
After the start of the airstrikes in Iran, Braun said, many European leaders supported Trump’s repeated attacks on Ukraine by saying that the president’s war is not a European war.
Trump’s insulting tone, along with the response from other countries, makes it difficult for NATO members to see the international picture clearly and set a strategy, Braun said.
From one perspective, the future of the United States in NATO should be solid now, said Erwan Lagadec, associate research professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
In recent years, Congress has passed legislation prohibiting the executive branch from independently reducing troop numbers in Europe below a certain level, and maintaining the US role in the NATO command. US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker assured the alliance in February that the United States remains committed to Article 5.
“So we have to be … clearer about NATO, the US commitment to NATO under this administration, than we were six months ago,” Lagadec said.
“But all bets are off with Trump, who now seems to be calling into question the US commitment to NATO.”
Canadians know from experience that congressional guardrails are not stopping Trump from doing what he wants. The Canada-US-Mexico trade deal was negotiated during the Trump administration and passed through Congress.
Many experts say Trump’s broad and vague tariff agenda is undermining his trade deal with America’s closest neighbors.
The president has also threatened the Canadian monarchy several times and has called the current and former prime ministers “imperial”.
While Europe is working to increase its military power in response to the instability generated by the Trump administration, not all countries want a clean break from the United States, Lagadec noted.
Canada is also increasing its military spending, partly in response to threats from the Trump administration. But Lagadec and Braun both agree that – given the length of the Canada-US border, the large shared territory and the demographic difference between the two countries – it is unrealistic to think that Canada can withdraw its defense from the United States.
“The United States will still be a superpower,” Braun said. “The geography will not change in Canada.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
