President Donald Trump reportedly said both he and Congress are fed up with Canada not meeting NATO defense spending targets. In a June 19 letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that has been reported by several Canadian media outlets and confirmed by the Canadian Press, Trump spoke of “growing frustration” with Canadian and other NATO allies’ defense spending levels. “This frustration is not confined to our executive branch. The United States Congress has taken note and is concerned as well,” the correspondence reportedly said. It’s public disclosure comes at a time of increasing unease between the closest partners in the NATO alliance. (RELATED: Trudeau Tells People To Stay Home And Buy Canadian) Trump further suggested that Trudeau has contributed to NATO’s “failure” to share the burden of its considerable defense responsibilities. “The United States is increasingly unwilling to ignore this Alliance’s failure to meet shared security challenges,” Trump wrote. Despite issuing an ambitious defense policy last summer that promises a 70 percent increase in defense spending, the Trudeau government document stretches that commitment over the next decade. Even if all expenditures are met it still fails to achieve the NATO mandate that member states spend two percent of their GDP on defense. Trump did allow that Canada has been a willing partner in NATO’s military operations and remains a chief UN peacekeeping nation, but he said that is not enough. “At the summit, we must ensure alliance credibility by living up to our agreed commitments. I expect to see a strong recommitment by Canada to meet the goals to which we have all agreed in the defense investment pledge.” Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan did not deny that Canada is not fulfilling its obligations to NATO by meeting its defense spending target. Instead, spokeswoman Renee Filiatrault told Global News Friday that the Liberal government’s defense policy has been “rigorously costed, is fully funded, and serves Canada’s defense needs. It also upholds our long-standing role as an active contributor to global peace and security.” Follow David on Twitter<doc-sep>After President Donald Trump derailed the U.S. relationship with longtime ally Canada, launching a trade war and exchanging barbs with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadians decided to boycott Trump in solidarity with their leader. Trump blamed Trudeau for his decision not to sign a joint communiqué with other members of the G-7 during the close of their meeting last week. Canada's leader had announced his intention to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports because Trump establshed tariffs of 25 and 10 percent on aluminum and steel from Canada and other countries. The announcement angered Trump and led to the breakdown of his participation in the G-7 summit in Quebec. Trump called Trudeau "dishonest and weak," and White House aide Peter Navarro said there was a "special place in hell" for leaders like Trudeau who engage in "bad faith diplomacy" with Trump. PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018 Now, Canadians have responded by boycotting U.S. products and canceling their planned trips to the U.S. Kentucky Bourbon, California wine, and Florida oranges are all among the products some Canadians now say they won't purchase. Meanwhile, Canadian Twitter has been flooded with hashtags urging shoppers to #BuyCanadian, #BoycottUSProducts and #BoycottUSA. One man even tweeted a photo of his "Trump free" grocery cart filled with Canadian products. U.S. companies like Walmart and McDonalds are also included in the list of companies to be shunned. First trump-free grocery cart. Focusing on great Canadian products and those from countries with stronger leadership. #buycanadian #trumpfree pic.twitter.com/XHgGJNtzcJ — Scott Chamberlain (@scottawan) June 10, 2018 For confused shoppers, at least one Canadian website details whether a product was produced in the U.S. or not. Canada is Washington's second largest trading partner after China, accounting for an estimated $673.9 billion in trade and services last year. U.S. exports of goods and services to Canada supported an estimated 1.6 million jobs in 2015, according to the Department of Commerce. Trump's decision to enter into conflict with one of the U.S.'s most steadfast allies was viewed with concern and occasionally mockery by analysts and experts. "O Canada: You had it coming, eh. They inflicted Nickelback on us. We did nothing. They sent us Justin Bieber. We turned the other cheek. They were responsible for one abomination after the other: Poutine. Diphthong vowels. Hawaiian pizza. Instant mashed potatoes. Ted Cruz. Still, we did not retaliate—until now," Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank joked in a recent op-ed. "Given Canadians' well-known instability—their currency is called the 'loonie'—there can be only one solution: We are going to build a wall from Maine to Alaska—and Ottawa is going to pay." Some pundits, however, took a more somber tone, suggesting that Trump is in fact determined to upend all international trade norms. Canadian media, meanwhile, reported that U.S. and Canada's relationship is now at an all-time low, especially since Trump suggested that Canada constitutes a national security threat for the U.S. Other experts consulted by Toronto-based TV channel CTV indicated that Canadians "need to continue the conversation with American business partners, friends and family," while reminding U.S. voters that "their president has angered an ally." Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney began negotiations with then-President Ronald Reagan to create the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 1988 and went into effect the following year. At Canada's behest, this treaty was transformed into a trilateral agreement, and it was later renamed the North American Free Trade Agreement—which includes Mexico—in the early 1990s. NAFTA entered into force in 1994 after then-President Bill Clinton signed it into law in December 1993. Today, the deal seeks to protect intellectual property and establish labor and environmental standards. Furthermore, NAFTA has spurred "unprecedented integration between Canada and the United States' developed economies and Mexico, a developing country," according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations. This article has been updated with new information.<doc-sep>Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, visiting scholar at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and director of its Red Lines Project, is a contributor to CNN where his columns won the 2017 Deadline Club Award for Best Opinion Writing. Author of “A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today,” he was formerly a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News in Asia and Europe. Follow him on Twitter @DavidAndelman. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. (CNN) — From somewhere above 31,000 feet, heading to his North Korean summit in Singapore, Donald Trump pitched a hand grenade into this weekend’s G-7 meeting of the world’s leading democracies. In a fit of pique over remarks by the G-7 host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump reversed his decision to sign a closing communiqué carefully crafted by his six fellow members, tweeting from Air Force One, “I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!” This last-minute reversal raises a dangerous question: How can Kim Jong Un trust that any agreement he makes with Trump would last beyond the setting of the next sun? Of course, in Singapore, we will have perhaps the only two world leaders congenitally incapable of keeping any deal they’ve struck. Still, G-7 2018 is in the books. The leaders of the other six leading democracies in attendance have now scattered to their homes. Yet the wounds Trump has left behind are deep and will not soon be forgotten. So, what exactly happened along the idyllic shores of the Saint Lawrence River in a remote stretch of Quebec? The leaders of the developed world gathered for what promised from the outset to be a weekend of invective and calumny – deepening conflict with Trump’s America. Never mind that for much of the existence of this gathering, which dates back nearly a half a century, the United States served as the beacon of the world’s leading democracies. Outwardly, there were the usual smiles and handshakes, the first-name congeniality as the presidents, prime ministers and a chancellor assembled for their family photo and mugged for the cameras at photo-ops and preprandial gatherings. In the end, all seven thought they’d managed to paper over their differences with a joint communique signed by each country, including the United States. But at his closing news conference, Trudeau suggested that he and others at the summit will hardly cave to Trump’s tariff demands, adding that he found some of Trump’s language “insulting” and that “we will not be pushed around.” Twitter/Steffen Seibert/German Federal Press Office On Sunday morning, Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trudeau’s remarks were a “sophomoric political stunt.” So to make sure, as Kudlow continued, that Trump did not “permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea,” the president retaliated in kind – pulling a stunt that could backfire badly. The big question: Are stunts the stuff of good diplomacy, or the way friends and allies should treat each other? Indeed, the knives were not concealed very carefully at all. As Trump bolted to avoid the most uncomfortable moments of the gathering – debate over global warming, which he utterly rejects – he left behind a bad taste everywhere he turned. Arriving late to the get-together, he missed his chance for a substantive meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who had been his one friend until a tense phone call earlier in the week. Then, he appeared late for the breakfast to discuss gender equality the next morning. How could it possibly get any worse? Well, the President offered a few hints. He could, it seems, simply end all trade with any of their nations if they don’t stop what he defines as unfair trade practices. Or he could continue to press for the pariah state of Russia, which Trump may not even have realized had been ousted after it seized control of Crimea from Ukraine, to return to the group. Even today, Russia, still unrepentant for this action, would be the only autocracy in the G-8, with a GDP that ranks below every other member and indeed below non-members Brazil, India, China and South Korea. If much of diplomacy is optics, President Trump seems to have left his opera glasses at home. Why would any world leader want to reward this kind of bad behavior by arriving at a quick trade deal that will only enshrine threats as the standard for accomplishing a purpose that should be the carefully considered outcome of discussion and diplomacy? In one fashion or other, it seems, most of the other G-7 leaders have felt betrayed. All these leaders believe deeply in the natural order of things and the value of preserving a global club of democracies, while Trump believes – and has never demonstrated more clearly than in Charlevoix – in simply shredding such values at will and for his own convenience or profit. This weekend’s G-7 simply placed all these feelings in greater, starker relief. Ironically, it appears increasingly as though Trump is more comfortable and less threatened when dealing with autocrats or dictators: Welcome Putin back to the G-8; jet halfway around the world to spend some quality time with Kim Jong Un, a leader ruthless to all, even his own family. The question, which must remain unanswered, is whether this weekend has left America a step closer to embracing or professing preference for autocracy itself. Certainly, with Trump leaving an empty chair Saturday afternoon as the G-7 discussed climate change, sustainable energy and renewable fuels, America has abdicated its onetime leadership position on these critical issues. Get our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook The realization has finally dawned that Donald Trump does not respond to rhetoric or reason – or to anyone ganging up on him. The leading French daily Le Monde observed that the G-7 is simply “a symbol of a multilateral cooperation which he abhors.” He does respond, however to strength and spine. So, the battle was not joined in Charlevoix. But it will likely be joined in the weeks to come in retaliation, or at least with fortitude, as the G-6 unite against what now appears quite clearly to be their declared and sworn enemy.<doc-sep>
The letter comes as tensions between Canada and the United States have risen to a dramatic high, with NAFTA talks all but stalled and a dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the United States that has led Canada and other countries to counter with a long list of retaliatory tariffs. “This frustration is not confined to our executive branch. The United States Congress has taken note and is concerned as well,” reads the letter, first reported by iPolitics. The Canadian Press has confirmed the authenticity of the letter. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. In the June 19 letter, Trump says there is “growing frustration” in the United States with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies like Canada that have not increased defence spending as promised. OTTAWA — As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to attend the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels, U.S. President Donald Trump is calling on Canada to meet the alliance’s defence spending targets. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Trump also had harsh words for Trudeau following the G7 meetings in Quebec earlier this month, calling the prime minister “dishonest and weak” after backing out of the final joint communique issued by leaders. The Liberals promised last year to increase spending on the military by 70 per cent over the next 10 years. But even with this increase, Canada will fall short of NATO’s target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence. Looking ahead to the coming NATO meeting next month, Trump says in his letter to Trudeau he appreciates Canada’s defence contributions around the world, including in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and on United Nations peacekeeping missions. But these contributions “do not excuse any of us from our commitments to ensure NATO has the resources it needs,” he writes. “As one of our most capable allies and a leader in worldwide security, Canada’s continued defence spending of less than two per cent undermines the security of the alliance and provides validation for other allies that also are not meeting their defence spending commitments,” the letter says. “At the summit, we must ensure alliance credibility by living up to our agreed commitments. I expect to see a strong recommitment by Canada to meet the goals to which we have all agreed in the defence investment pledge.” Renee Filiatrault, a spokeswoman for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, said Friday the Liberal government’s planned spending increase has been “rigorously costed, is fully funded, and serves Canada’s defence needs. It also upholds our long-standing role as an active contributor to global peace and security.” “Canada is proud to have contributed to every NATO operation since the founding of the alliance more than six decades ago. Canada’s participation in NATO operations around the world is a tangible signal of our commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance.”