'The relationship is rapidly deteriorating': Ham on the ongoing rift between U.S. and Canada

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]And to talk about all of this, let's bring in CTV News US political analyst Eric Ham. Good morning, Eric. Good to see you.

[00:00:06]>> Good morning. It's good to be with you.

[00:00:08]>> So, Eric, yet another high-profile exit from the Trump administration. What is behind the resignation of Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

[00:00:19]>> Well, this exit from President Trump's administration by Tulsi Gabbard was actually something that many saw coming for months now. Uh we know that Tulsi Gabbard in particular has been on the outs with the president and that actually began to grow as the war in Iran began to heat up. We know when when Tulsi Gabbard actually testified before Congress on the war, she made clear that she was not in agreement with the US military strikes and that and that Iran was not a nuclear threat. President Donald Trump publicly rebuked her saying that he did not care what she thought or what she said. And it was also becoming increasingly clear that John Ratcliffe, who actually held that position as director of national intelligence during President Trump's first term and who now serves as CIA director, had the president's ear. And as the war began to uh take on a very different tone, Tulsi Gabbard became increasingly locked out and no longer had the president's ear.

[00:01:19]So this became a a welcome opportunity and an an offramp for her to exit gracefully from the White House given the fact that her husband is battling a rare bone cancer.

[00:01:32]>> Let's jump to our top story for a moment. Eric, Canada and the US are not seeing eye to eye in terms of defense spending. Pentagon officials were unimpressed with Ottawa's response to US documents on their demand for the North American Defense Pact. How significant is this rift?

[00:01:49]Well, to be clear, uh, the US and Canada have not been seeing eye to eye on many things as of late. I think what we're seeing now, particularly as it relates to, uh, this latest incident, makes clear that the relationship is becoming is or is rapidly deteriorating. And what we're seeing now is this is simply just another cudel that the United States is attempting to use against Canada. And of course what was cited in this was the fact that not only was was Canada not moving as aggressively as the United States would like particularly on the purchase of its F-35s but what we are seeing here is the United States is actually making this claim against Canada at the same time that it has also cited its delay of a 14 billion military aid package to Taiwan citing the depletion of its own resources. And this comes, of course, as Canada has aggressively stepped up its actual defense spending, making clear that it is actually meeting NATO guidelines.

[00:02:49]>> Lots to talk about this week. Meanwhile, the US upgraded their presence in Greenland by opening a new, bigger, more central consulate in downtown Nuke. Many politicians skipped the grand opening and hundreds protested outside the complex. Is Trump still trying to take over Greenland?

[00:03:08]This is actually pretty striking because we see that this is something that's being done by the governor of Louisiana and we know here in the United States uh there's a massive massive domestic battle taking place uh in that state and so the fact that you have the governor who is now in Greenland and of course many do uh remember how President Donald Trump seemed to be on the precipice uh earlier this year and invading uh Greenland. This only I think opened those wounds even further. And it also comes at a time when right now President Donald Trump is actually threatening an invasion in Cuba as well. So what we're seeing here is President Donald Trump still appears to have these these aggressive efforts or plans to try to move more militarily against nations uh that many simply don't understand or why the president is doing this. And of course, this is all even as the United States makes clear that still President Donald Trump has ambitions to make Canada also a state. Something that many people simply don't understand. But what it speaks to clearly is that President Donald Trump, even as the war in Iran is becoming deeply unpopular, the president is still has his eyes set on other places such as Canada, Greenland, and yes, Cuba as well.

[00:04:25]>> All right, Eric, thank you for breaking that all down for us. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

[00:04:29]>> CTV News US political analyst Eric Ham.