Montreal (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney launched a multibillion-dollar plan to strengthen the country's armed forces to reduce dependence on the United States.

First modification: 02/18/2026 - 17:45

Carney's announcement of Canada's first defense industrial strategy built on a theme he has emphasized throughout his 11 months in office, as Donald Trump tears apart America's traditional alliances.

"We've relied too much on others to protect us," Carney said.

"This has created vulnerabilities that we can no longer afford and dependencies that we can no longer sustain," he added.

Carney's office said the defense industrial strategy amounts to "more than half a trillion Canadian dollars (US$366 billion) in security."

"The world has changed and Canada must change with it," he said.

The prime minister re-emphasized the need to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic, where rising temperatures caused by climate change are triggering melting ice and opening a new era of competition for critical minerals and shipping routes.

Carney has become one of the most prominent global voices criticizing the Trump administration, especially following his speech at the World Economic Forum last month, where he claimed that the US president had caused a "breakdown" in the global order.

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© 2026 AFP

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