What a Catholic leader learned from meeting Cardinal Robert Prevost
Father Kevin Storey, the superior general of the Basilian Fathers, previously met Pope Leo XIV when he was Cardinal Robert Prevost. He says he believes the new Catholic leader will be 'very human, very humorous and very competent.'
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CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
EU trade surplus with U.S. grows in April despite tariffs
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CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Sweden and the Netherlands say before NATO summit they will spend 5% of GDP on defense
BRUSSELS — Less than two weeks before a NATO summit, Sweden and the Netherlands said Friday that they intend to increase defense spending to five per cent of their gross domestic product, in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's demands. Trump and his NATO counterparts meet for a summit in the Netherlands on June 24-25, where they're due to agree a new defense spending target. He insists that Europe must look after its own security, while Washington focuses on China and its own borders. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that 'Sweden will reach a new NATO spending target to five per cent of GDP, where at least 3.5 per cent of GDP will be allocated towards core defense requirements to fulfill NATO's new capability targets.' 'We are in a specific geographical situation where we need to meet the future threats from Russia,' Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm, standing alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, NATO's 32 allies agreed to spend at least two per cent of GDP on their military budgets. But NATO's new plans for defending Europe and North America against a Russian attack require investment of at least three per cent. The aim now is to raise the bar to 3.5 per cent for core defense spending on tanks, warplanes, air defense, missiles and hiring extra troops. A further 1.5 per cent would be spent on things like roads, bridges, ports and airfields so armies can deploy more quickly, as well as preparing societies for possible attack. According to the most recent NATO figures, Sweden was estimated to have spent 2.25 per cent of its GDP on defense last year. The Netherlands spent 2.06 per cent, among 22 of the 32 allies who reached NATO's old benchmark. The Dutch caretaker government announced on Friday that it would increase spending on defense to 3.5 per cent of GDP in an effort to meet the five per cent goal. It's not clear where the approximately 18 billion euros (US$20 billion) will come from. Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called the decision 'historic' and told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that he hoped other NATO countries would also increase their spending. 'My expectation is that this will happen,' he said. Poland and the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have already publicly committed to five per cent, and Rutte said last week that most allies were ready to endorse the goal. A big question still to be answered is what time frame countries will get to reach the new spending goals. A target date of 2032 was initially floated, but Rutte has said that Russia could be ready to launch an attack on NATO territory by 2030. The United States insists that a near-term deadline must be set. But Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday that his country would get to five per cent,. but would require a decade to do so. Molly Quell reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Lorne Cook And Molly Quell, The Associated Press
Globe and Mail
8 hours ago
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Fearing Trump's anger, non-U.S. G7 members will pursue low-bar victories in Kananaskis
The four European members of the G7 face a delicate summit in Kananaskis, Alta. They know that U.S. President Donald Trump is in attack-dog mode on tariffs, defence spending and other issues and that lashing out against him could backfire. Ian Lesser, distinguished fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and executive director of the public policy think tank's Brussels office, believes the G7 will focus on Mr. Trump – but the goal will be to avoid antagonizing him. 'They aren't looking for a fight with Trump,' he said. 'Part of their victory would be just having him there and engaged without any overt conflict with him.' The non-American members of the G7 – Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Germany and Britain – know from experience that Mr. Trump can be a force of disruption at the summits, as he was in 2017 in Taormina, Sicily. There, he berated the other six for skimpy defence spending, threatened to leave the Paris climate agreement (which he later did) and shunned the traditional closing news conference. Ditto at the 2018 summit in La Malbaie, Que. Mr. Trump left it early after a spat about trade with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The U.S. did not appear in the final G7 communiqué. The two-day summit in Kananaskis begins June 17, and the non-U.S. members no doubt have spent months plotting strategies. One option is to present a united front against Mr. Trump on tariffs, China, defence spending, support for Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend – and other issues. Another option is to go soft on demands for fear of triggering Mr. Trump's wrath, which could see him unleash another round of tariffs. Carney should ignore any antics from Trump at G7 and focus on business, Chrétien says Certainly, the six have plenty of reasons to be wary of Mr. Trump – and furious with him – for the turmoil he has inflicted on global trade. Since taking office in January, he has imposed double- and triple-digit tariffs on America's trading partners, reversed or lowered them several times, then threatened to reimpose them, as he did in May with his vow to hit the EU with a 50-per-cent trade tax (now suspended until July 9). Today there is a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on most countries, though not Canada and Mexico, plus a 25-per-cent levy on autos. Early this month, Mr. Trump doubled the tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent, a level high enough to cripple Canadian exports of both products. A Reuters analysis says the tariffs have cost the biggest companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia – among them Porsche, Apple and Sony – more than US$34-billion in lost sales and higher expenses. The analysis did not include the damage inflicted on the thousands of smaller companies that are not listed on the leading stock market indexes such as the S&P 500 or Europe's Stoxx 600. Since all the non-U.S. G7 members, plus the European Union itself (whose leaders will also be in Kananaskis), are in various stages of negotiating new trade deals with the White House, they will be wary of jeopardizing any progress they have made so far by angering Mr. Trump. For instance, if the EU fails to negotiate a trade deal by the July deadline, the threatened 50-per-cent levy may come into effect. If it does, the EU would almost certainly plunge into recession. 'Tariffs are the keystone of his approach to the world, and no international meeting is going to change this,' said trade lawyer Lawrence Herman of Toronto's Herman & Associates. 'Until the Trump ascendancy, G7 leaders tended to find consensus on major issues. It's hard to see that happening in Kananaskis, especially given Trump's unpredictability as well as the adversarial relationship between the U.S. and the Europeans and Canada.' Since convincing Mr. Trump to back down on tariffs seems like a long shot, progress elsewhere may be pursued. Bulking up militaries will almost certainly be included. In principle, all the G7 countries agree that spending has to rise, especially among the EU countries, which face the prospect of the U.S. winding down its commitment to NATO, leaving Europe less able to confront a revanchist Russia. Carney lays out defence boost, says era of U.S. dominance over NATO's current defence spending target for its 32 member states is 2 per cent of GDP. Mr. Trump wants to see it rise to 5 per cent. NATO, whose own summit will be held June 24-26 in the Dutch city of The Hague, is set to embrace that figure, though it could be fudged by allowing 3.5 per cent in hard military spending and the rest for infrastructure, cybersecurity and other outlays not directly related to weapons or military headcounts. Defence spending in much of Western Europe, especially Germany, is surging. In March, the German parliament ripped up the government's 'debt brake,' which will allow Chancellor Friedrich Merz to spend essentially unlimited amounts to rebuild the country's military and infrastructure. Still, some countries will resist doubling their military budgets. They will have to consider their positions carefully ahead of the G7 and NATO summits, since Mr. Trump has been insistent since his first term as president that the U.S. will no longer support a NATO full of cheapskates. Italy will almost certainly argue that it already has one of the biggest militaries in Europe, including two aircraft carriers and an order for 115 Lockheed Martin F-35s, the most advanced fighter jets in the NATO arsenal, suggesting that its relatively small military budget in no way means it is an inefficient spender. With agreements on tariffs and defence bound to be hard work at the G7, easier victories will likely be sought. Mr. Lesser said they might strive for a common front on the relationship with China in areas such as intellectual property, investment screening and disapproval of Beijing's support for Moscow as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. What is known is that Mr. Trump will be the wild card at the Canadian G7, as he was at previous G7s.
