Canada and the European Nordic states deepen defence cooperation

Canada and five Nordic countries announced on Sunday a broad agreement to strengthen cooperation in military-industrial production, defence procurement, and other strategic areas, reflecting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ongoing efforts to diversify the country’s alliances and reduce reliance on the United States.

Meeting in Oslo, the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Canada underlined the need to enhance collective defence, security, and resilience. Carney framed the agreement as part of a wider strategy to forge partnerships with China, Middle Eastern nations, India, and European countries, aimed at building a “trading order led by middle-power countries.”

“We all agree that if we spend these funds separately or without coordination, it will not be beneficial for taxpayers. It will also not protect our citizens as much as we should,” Carney told reporters following the meeting. He stressed that while substantial purchases from the United States will continue, future acquisitions will increasingly occur “within the framework of partnerships.”

The prime ministers also reiterated their commitment to providing economic, civilian, military, and humanitarian support to Ukraine. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen framed this cooperation as part of shaping a new global order. “The old world order is gone and probably won’t come back. So we have to build something new, and it has to be a world order based on the values that we stand for,” she said.

The announcement follows Canada’s recent resumption of trade negotiations with the United States, the first since October 2025, which had been suspended by the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump. Canada had previously made concessions, including lifting certain counter-tariffs and abandoning a digital services tax targeting American technology companies.

On security issues, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre emphasized that Norway’s NATO membership anchors its security policy in nuclear deterrence, and his country will not alter its stance on nuclear weapons. “As for Norway, we are not changing our policy. There will be no deployment of nuclear weapons in Norway,” Støre said during a press conference in Oslo, adding that strategic cooperation with France is possible as long as it does not weaken NATO’s nuclear deterrent.

Finland has also signalled restraint on nuclear deployment. Finnish President Alexander Stubb clarified that Finland has no intention of hosting nuclear weapons during peacetime, responding to a Finnish Ministry of Defence initiative that had proposed the conditional import, transport, and deployment of nuclear arms in support of national defence or NATO obligations. The Kremlin, however, criticized this proposal.

Prime Minister Carney highlighted Russia as the foremost security threat in the Arctic, linking the region’s stability to broader European security. “The biggest security threat in the Arctic is Russia,” he said, calling for heightened NATO attention to northern defence matters. His comments echo concerns raised by British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in January, who urged NATO to “double down its efforts” to safeguard the Arctic from potential Russian aggression.

Speaking during a visit to British forces in northern Norway, Cooper proposed the creation of a combined operation, “Arctic Sentry,” to mirror NATO’s Baltic Sea defences.

She stressed that allies, including the United States, must unite against shared threats despite ongoing disagreements over Greenland. Cooper, joined by Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, called the Greenland dispute a “distraction” from larger security challenges, particularly Russian aggression in Ukraine. “The Arctic is the gateway for Russia’s Northern Fleet to threaten the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Norway, the United States, and Canada,” she said, linking transatlantic security directly to the High North.

The strategic tensions are compounded by recent Russian military activity. In early March, the North American Aerospace Defence Command reported detecting and tracking two Russian Tu-142 military aircraft operating within the air defence identification zones of Alaska and Canada.

Sources: Reuters, European Pravda, BBC

Caption: (L-R) Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Mjoll Frostadottir, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in the government’s representative building in Oslo, Norway, 15 March 2026. The Canadian prime minister is on an official visit to Norway, where he is participating in the Canada-Nordic Summit in Oslo. EPA/THOMAS FURE