Lonely Canada could join UK in European military alliance as Trump fears grow
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Canada could join forces with the UK and other northern European countries to form a new transatlantic military partnership, experts have said.
Sir Keir Starmer will join fellow leaders of the 10-member state Joint Expeditionary Force for a summit in Oslo this week.
But there is now growing speculation that new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney could be tempted to join the JEF, effectively forging a new transatlantic alliance with Europe that does not involve the United States.
The JEF is a rapid-reaction military force designed to complement rather than rival Nato, particularly to defend the Baltics, High North and Arctic regions from the threat of Russia.
Unlike Nato, it can deploy troops to a region without the need for consensus across the organisation.
If Canada joined the JEF it would be seen as a major move by Carney to cement closer defence and security links with Europe at the same time as Donald Trump is distancing the US from both.
Fears Trump is undermining Nato
There are fears that Trump’s overtures to Vladimir Putin are undermining the Nato alliance.
The US President has also put himself on a collision course with Denmark – a founding member of the JEF – over his ambitions to gain control of Greenland.
In March, after Trump sparked a trade war with Ottawa and threatened to annex Canada to make it the 51st state, Carney declared that his country’s old relationship with the US, based on “tight security and military co-operation”, was “over”.
While no announcement about Canadian membership is expected at the Oslo summit, it is expected to be a topic of conversation.
Canada was invited to join the JEF in 2013 but declined. However, the global security situation and Ottawa’s relationship with Washington has changed significantly since then.
Canada left feeling isolated
Ed Arnold, senior fellow at defence think-tank Rusi, said he believed the UK and European allies would “absolutely” welcome Ottawa’s membership of the JEF and that Canadian officials were “very responsive” to the idea.
He added: “I don’t think it’s as radical a view as we once potentially thought.
“From a Canadian point of view, the Western Hemisphere seems a quite lonely place at the moment.
“Because it’s a very flexible and light framework, then if that’s the trajectory that the Canadians want to go in – which I think it probably is given Carney’s statements over the last couple of months – then it’s something that could happen very quickly, within the next couple of weeks, if the UK chose to push it.
“The Canadians were always offered the option of going back over a decade now. They’ve just never taken up the idea, and I think the security environment has changed sufficiently to make it a far more attractive proposition.”
What is the Joint Expeditionary Force?
The JEF is a rapid-response force made up of 10 northern European countries, including the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
While these countries are also members of Nato, the JEF is not a part of Nato, but aims to complement it.
The JEF is gaining in strategic importance due to the renewed threat of Russia in the High North and Arctic regions, as well as Trump’s desires on Greenland.
It can deploy soldiers at short notice to defend Europe’s northern and eastern flanks, and recent missions have included protecting undersea cables in the Baltic Sea from Russia interference, as well as training exercises for Ukraine soldiers.
According to a communique from its 2023 summit, the JEF can respond to “scenarios ranging from below the threshold of Nato’s Article 5 through to full-spectrum interventions during times of crisis or conflict, operating seamlessly with Nato”.
Its light framework – which means that deployments can take place without the consensus of all members – means it is more agile than Nato.
Canada joining the JEF would turn it into a “proper Euro-Atlantic framework”, Arnold said, adding: “It would give it more impetus in a more difficult security environment where people are genuinely talking about the future of Nato.
“And if Nato is compromised, at least in the sense that it’s not operating the way it should, then the JEF is really the only other option from a defence and security standpoint. It’s very effective, it’s focused in on the north, which is also where the principal Russian threat comes from.
Alliance could help Carney deal with US aggression
“Having the Canadians there would be immediately symbolic… If the Canadians are looking to rearm to enhance their status, to be able to be a more powerful defence and security leader in the face of – let’s call it as it is – US aggression, then I think the JEF is of benefit to both sides.”
Tan Dhesi, Labour chairman of the Commons defence committee, said: “Personally, I very much value Canada’s close friendship, and feel that now is the time for them to reconsider and join JEF, to significantly enhance operations and make it a truly Euro-Atlantic organisation.”
Starmer’s presence at the JEF summit in Oslo marks the first of three major defence gatherings he will attend over the next two months.
He is hosting a UK-EU summit in London on 19 May, when it is expected that Britain and Europe will seal a new defence and security pact, and he will head to the Nato summit with fellow leaders, including Trump and Carney, in the Netherlands from 24 to 26 June.
Separately, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday that the King and Queen will visit Canada later this month, in a sign of the UK’s close relationship with the Commonwealth country.
Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the prospect of Canada joining the JEF.
A Whitehall source said the West was facing both a “crunch moment for Ukraine” but also a need to guard against the Russian threat in the High North – both issues which would be high on the agenda at the Oslo summit.
Both Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey have visited Norway over the past few months, and have been working on closer defence co-operation with Oslo.
The Canadian government did not respond to a request for comment.
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