Canada wants to join Golden Dome missile-defence program, Trump says

Alexander Panetta · CBC News

· Posted: May 20, 2025 4:47 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Donald Trump says Canada has asked to articulation the missile-defence programme his medication is building, adding a caller section to a long-running cross-border saga.

The U.S. president dropped that quality successful the Oval Office connected Tuesday arsenic helium unveiled the archetypal plans for a three-year, $175 cardinal US project to physique a multi-purpose rocket shield he's calling the Golden Dome.

"Canada has called america and they privation to beryllium a portion of it," Trump said. "They privation to hook successful and they privation to beryllium a portion of it."

Canada volition wage its "fair share," helium added. "We'll enactment with them connected pricing."

Ottawa confirmed it's talking to the U.S. astir this. In a statement, the national authorities formed missile-defence discussions arsenic portion of the wide commercialized and information negotiations Prime Minister Mark Carney is having with Trump. 

What this means is inactive highly murky. It's unclear what, exactly, Canada would contribute; what its responsibilities would include; what it would pay; and however antithetic this statement would beryllium from what Canada already does nether the Canada-U.S. NORAD system.

Refused to join

Canada has agelong participated successful tracking North American skies done NORAD, and feeds that information into the U.S. missile-defence program.

But Canada ne'er officially joined the U.S. rocket program, which was a root of contention successful Ottawa successful the aboriginal 2000s erstwhile Prime Minister Paul Martin's authorities refused to join.

That erstwhile refusal means Canadians can monitor the skies but not enactment successful immoderate decision about erstwhile to motorboat a hypothetical onslaught against incoming objects.

New developments person forced the long-dormant contented backmost onto the agenda. 

For starters, the U.S. is creating a caller system to way assorted types of missiles — 1 much blase and multi-layered than Israel's Iron Dome, intended to detect intercontinental, hypersonic and shorter-range cruise weapons. 

And this happens to beryllium occurring arsenic Canada's sensors successful the Arctic are aging retired of use. Canada has committed to refurbishing those sensors.

WATCH | Trump unveils missile-defence plan:

The archetypal nationalist denotation that these combined factors were fuelling a argumentation displacement successful Canada came successful nationalist comments made earlier this twelvemonth successful Washington.

One U.S. legislator said, successful February, that he'd heard interest in the rocket programme from a Canadian colleague, then-defence curate Bill Blair.

Blair publically acknowledged the interest, saying that, fixed the upgrades being planned by both the U.S. and Canada, the concern "makes sense."

But the signifier of Canadian information is, again, unclear. The U.S. commandant for NORAD appeared precocious to suggest that Canada's information volition beryllium constricted to tracking threats.

One missile-defence expert says it sounds similar an hold of existing Canada-U.S. co-operation done NORAD. Still, says Wes Rumbaugh, it's absorbing that Trump chose to gully attraction to it. Trump mentioned Canada's role respective times, unprompted, during his announcement Tuesday.

As for the president's three-year timeframe, Rumbaugh calls it a longshot. He predicts that lone portion of the strategy could beryllium built successful that period, and that it volition instrumentality much years, and much funding, to complete.

It could instrumentality much, overmuch much funding. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this task could outgo hundreds of billions much than the $175 cardinal US fig cited by the president. 

"This is inactive a important challenge," said Rumbaugh, a chap successful the Missile Defense Project astatine the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank successful Washington.

"We're talking astir benignant of a next-generation and a wide enhanced missile-defence system. We're talking astir a step-change improvement successful American aerial and rocket defence systems that volition necessitate important concern implicit perchance a agelong clip period."

Nearly 3 hours aft Trump's announcement, Ottawa confirmed the discussions are happening. An evening connection from Carney's bureau said Canadians gave the premier curate an electoral mandate to negociate a broad caller information and economical narration with the U.S.

"To that end, the Prime Minister and his Ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts," said the statement. 

"These discussions people see strengthening NORAD and related initiatives specified arsenic the Golden Dome."