President-elect Donald Trump has said he has not ruled out using military force to seize Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. This isolated and resource-rich island is home to a US Space Force base and 139 American soldiers.
This text is a translation of an article from CTV News.
Mr. Trump has also considered making Canada the 51st US state.
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Although there is no U.S. base in Canada today, there are 156 active-duty U.S. military personnel deployed in the country, according to the latest data from the Defense Manpower Data Center (Military Manpower Data Center) of the Pentagon.
Why are there American troops in Canada?
Nearly 50 of them are members of the United States Air Force who serve alongside Canadians on bases in North Bay, Ontario and Winnipeg as part of NORAD. Short for North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD is a binational defense group charged with protecting Canada and the United States from imminent attacks.
“The operation of NORAD requires close cooperation between the United States and Canada,” Stephen Saideman, chair of the international affairs department at Carleton University, told CTVNews.ca. “Canadians are based at NORAD HQ in Colorado and, yes, it is completely normal for American military personnel to serve in Canada, primarily to facilitate relations with NORAD.”
Other U.S. military personnel in Canada serve in a wide range of roles, including serving as defense attachés at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, studying at our military colleges, and coordinating with troops and officers Canadians across the country.
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U.S. military personnel in Canada include 69 members of the U.S. Air Force, 36 from the Navy, 29 from the Army, 15 from the Marine Corps, four from the Coast Guard and three from the Space Force. Canada previously hosted American military installations during the Second World War and the Cold War.
“Canada and the United States have long had well-developed exchange programs where soldiers are deployed to each other’s territory,” Aaron Ettinger, a political scientist at Carleton University, told CTVNews .That. “This is a critical part of the mature North American defense relationship.”
Should Canadians be concerned about American troops?
As his second inauguration approaches, Donald Trump has floated the idea of using “economic force” to make Canada part of the United States, much to the irritation of Canadian leaders. Experts largely reject Mr. Trump’s jokes about absorbing Canada and say Canadians should not worry about the presence of American military personnel on their soil.
“Canadians should be no more worried than Europeans about the tens of thousands of American troops stationed in Germany,” said Mr. Ettinger, an expert on US foreign policy. “Mr. Trump’s comments are just lip service.”
The 156 U.S. troops in Canada represent only a tiny portion of the U.S. military’s global footprint, which has 165,830 active members overseas, as well as 23,722 reservists and National Guardsmen. The 13 states bordering Canada have 277,363 American soldiers, reservists and members of the National Guard, according to Pentagon data. The total strength of the Canadian military is less than a third of that figure, with approximately 63,000 regulars and 22,000 reservists.
The Pentagon and the Canadian Department of National Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
“The US-Canadian defense is solid and represents one of the finest forms of bilateral integration there is,” Frédéric Labarre, associate professor of political science at the Military College of Canada, told CTVNews.ca. “This defense partnership is likely to continue despite Mr. Trump’s ambitions and imagination.”
Rob Huebert, a political science professor and defense expert at the University of Calgary, says Mr. Trump’s comments and actions could disrupt what is one of the most integrated defense partnerships in the world.
“We serve in their military and they serve in ours in a multitude of roles,” Mr. Huebert told CTVNews.ca. “If Mr. Trump exerts political pressure, it would ironically disrupt close coordination, but short of a major military invasion – which I cannot see – any move to increase American control would disrupt what is already integrated.”
As an example of this integration, a Canadian Rear Admiral currently serves as Vice Commander of the United States Navy’s East Coast and North Atlantic Fleet.
“As is often said, the two countries share the world’s longest peaceful border and have fought alongside each other in the major wars of the past 100 years,” said Mr. Saideman, who is also director of the Canadian Defense and Security Network. “This partnership requires a lot of interaction in peacetime for things to work well in wartime…So it is not unusual, but completely normal for U.S. military personnel to be based in Canada.”
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