Canada discusses joining US Golden Dome missile defence programme

Canadian Prime Minister Markey Carney has said that “high level” talks are taking place with the US about joining its proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence system, aimed at countering futuristic threats.

US President Donald Trump unveiled the plan for the new missile defence system on Tuesday, announcing an initial total cost of $25bn (£18.7bn). He said Canada was interested in joining the project.

There are doubts from experts on how the US would deliver a comprehensive system and it is unclear how Canada would participate or how much it would pay.

“It’s something that we are looking at and something that has been discussed at a high level,” Carney told reporters on Wednesday.

Carney was asked by a reporter following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday whether Canada would join the military project, and how much it would spend.

“I’m not going to put a price tag,” on it at this stage, Carney began.

“We are conscious that we have an ability, if we so choose, to complete the Golden Dome with investments and partnership,” he said.

“But I’m not sure one negotiates on this. These are these are military decisions. And we will evaluate it accordingly.”

Canada’s openness to joining the proposed Golden Dome system comes amid ongoing trade and security negotiations between the two countries, after Trump threatened steep tariffs on Canada and said it would be better off as a US state.

This galvanised a wave of national patriotism in Canada that was credited with ushering in a historic election win for Carney’s Liberal government.

A spokeswoman for Carney confirmed earlier that talks were due to take place on the issue.

“Canadians gave the prime minister a strong mandate to negotiate a comprehensive new security and economic relationship with the United States,” said Audrey Champoux.

“To that end, the prime minister and his ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts,” she said.

“These discussions naturally include strengthening Norad [North American Aerospace Defense Command] and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome.”

On Tuesday, Trump said that Canada has expressed interest in being part of the Golden Dome.

“We’ll be talking to them,” the US president said. “They want to have protection also, so as usual, we help Canada.”

Trump said that the new Golden Dome defence missile programme would be operational by the end of his time in office, and that it would cost $175bn. He added that he his administration is looking for Canada to “pay their fair share.”

But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the eventual price tag could be $542bn over 20 years, on the space-based parts of the system alone.

Canada and the US already partner on Norad – a system that is responsible for aerospace and maritime surveillance, warning and defence of the region, and that can detect and shoot down cruise missiles.

Norad has been in place since 1958, and both countries in recent years have been engaged in discussions to modernise it.

Trump said the proposed Golden Dome is meant to target increasingly sophisticated aerial weapons, including hypersonic missiles, and will include space-based sensors and interceptors.

He said the system would be “capable even of intercepting missiles launched from the other side of the world, or launched from space”.

It is partly inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome, which the country has used to intercept rockets and missiles since 2011.

Experts have expressed doubts on whether the US would be able to build a similarly comprehensive defence system, given its larger land mass.

Shashank Joshi, defence editor at the Economist, told the BBC that one way the Golden Dome could work was by using thousands of satellites to spot and track missiles and then use interceptors in orbit to fire at the missiles as they take off and take them out.

He said the US military would take the plan seriously but it was unrealistic to think it would be completed during Trump’s term, and the huge cost would suck up a large chunk of the US defence budget.