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As President Trump talks about U.S. dominance of the Arctic, Canada says it will spend billions to defend the region, including buying new radar technology from Australia.
March 18, 2025, 1:37 p.m. ET
Canada has made a 6 billion Canadian dollar ($4.2 billion) deal with Australia to develop a cutting-edge radar for the Arctic that can detect hypersonic missiles and other threats over the curvature of the earth, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Tuesday.
Mr. Carney also announced hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending to carry out year-round military exercises in the Arctic and to build up vital infrastructure for the Indigenous communities that make up most of the population there.
The new Canadian funding and operational plans come amid a crisis in the U.S.-Canada relationship as a result of President Trump’s continued threats to crush the Canadian economy through tariffs and to annex it to the United States.
Mr. Trump has also expressed an interest in annexing Greenland, part of a broader play for dominance in the Arctic, where Russia and China are also flexing their muscle as the region emerges as a new frontier for global competition.
Mr. Carney’s announcement Tuesday signaled Canada’s renewed interest in asserting its sovereignty over its immense Arctic territory, amid intensifying and shifting geopolitical pressures that raise doubts about his country’s core defense alliance with the United States.
“Canada is, and forever will be, an Arctic nation,” Mr. Carney said during a four-hour stop in Iqaluit, near the Arctic Circle, the capital of the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut, on his way back to Ottawa from a quick visit to Europe.
