China Drives a Wedge Between US and Traditional Allies: Retired Navy Captain Reacts

And joining us now to discuss these latest national security developments is retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler. He's a Senior Research Fellow for Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology at the Heritage Foundation, as well as a former Pentagon official. Brent, thank you so much for joining us as always. Now, our neighbor to the north is getting the cold shoulder as President Trump withdraws Mark Carney's invitation to join the Board of Peace, and Commerce Secretary Howard How are you reading U.S.-Canada relations in this China wedge? Could we see a splintering away of one of the U.S.'s closest allies? Well, the short answer is no. And thanks for having me on tonight. There's so much culturally, historically and economically that binds the two countries together, two close neighbors, that this political tiff right now, which I think is, I think, well-founded on Trump's side, to be taking the Canadians to task for. But the short answer is, I think the two relations, the two economies will continue to be very well integrated. Of course, there'll be some differences and some well-past-due adjustments made on trade, and I think we'll find a way to address our shared security interests to the north. Now, also under discussion, the Golden Dome, President Trump saying Carney should be grateful as the Golden Dome over Greenland would also protect Canada. Talk to us about the role of Greenland in nuclear defense. Well, first, it's important to note that the Canadians are part of NORAD, and there's been a need to update the sensors. And up there to the north, and not many of them are in Canada, they would also play a role in serving as the backbone for a new system called Golden Dome, of course. And the Canadians have not been very, I guess, proactive on the expenses and the update of that system. So hopefully we'll see a change of heart. Again, it's a common defense. But the Golden Dome and specifically Greenland's part of this suspense or the sensor line is key because many of the Great Circle, the shortest route for a ballistic missile coming from missile sites in Russia, but also China and Iran, pass over or close enough to Greenland that sensors there and perhaps even interceptors will play a critical role in the future defense of the North Atlantic and specifically the United States. But this is also a NATO security issue. And going deeper into the Arctic region, I want to roll a clip of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte first. We need to defend the Arctic. We know that the sea lanes are opening up. We know that China and Russia are increasingly active in the Arctic. There are eight countries bordering on the Arctic. Seven are a member of NATO. That's Finland and Sweden and Norway and Denmark, Iceland, Canada and the US. And there's only one country bordering on the Arctic outside NATO and that's Russia. And I would argue there is a ninth country, which is China, which is increasingly active in the Arctic region. So President Trump and other leaders are right. We have to do more there. We have to protect the Arctic against Russian and Chinese influence. How significant is the support from Rutte for President Trump here? I mean, the reality is the United States is the largest and the most relevant military power in all of the NATO alliance, because for decades, many of those Western European countries, the larger economies in Europe and the NATO alliance have not been paying nor maintaining an adequate military defense. They've been so-called free riding. And the consequences, they were not ready for when Putin invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. So Rutte, I think, is echoing the reality and is trying to channel and certainly maintain US support in a healthy way. But the reality is the math, the strategic realities bear out President Trump's assertions. So it makes sense that he would echo President Trump's point. Now, to your point, Rutte also credited Trump for pushing NATO countries to increase their defense spending. Let's actually watch a clip of that now. If President Trump would not have been reelected as president of the United States, no way it would never have happened. So again, I'm not popular with you now because I'm defending Donald Trump. But I really believe he can be happy that he is there because he has forced us in Europe to step up, to face the consequences that we have to take care of more of our own. To your earlier point, how integral is the US for ensuring the defense of other countries? Well, with regards to Russia, the only military power inside NATO that the Russians really respect and base their strategic calculations on is that of which the United States. Where is our military? What is our White House saying that we're going to do and use that military for? So that's a reality and it's the threat-based reality. Of course, increasingly, European countries are having to view China as a threat. We see if we'll have any real meaningful military and security actions taken. It's part of the reason why we have a dust-up with the Danes in Greenland to be serious. And now in terms of bolstering defense, President Trump is criticizing the US weapons industry. Actually, here's a clip of him with Fox News on that. I asked one of the gentlemen, what are you making, sir? I make $24 million. How come it takes me five years to get your particular thing that they make? So I put a cap on that for a period of time. I said, you have to build more plants. When we need tomahawks, I want them within 24 hours. When we need any kind of a Patriot or whatever I want, I want to have it quickly. I don't want to be waiting three years for it. What kind of a thing? Why do you think it takes this long to build weapons? There's lots of excuses given. The simplest is that Congress and too many White Houses have sent confusing signals. And the profit-seeking of these industries, they're publicly traded. You can't fault them for this. We are a free market economy. So it's really beholden on the White House and Congress to change the incentive structures. And something that's being argued for, at least for shipbuilding, I think it applies to munitions like tomahawks and certainly heavyweight torpedoes, is to change the incentive structure in such that if industries reinvest their profits into growing their industrial capacity, hiring more workers, then that actually can be tax-deferred or tax-free with full 100% expensing associated. But right now, that's not the case. The benefits are balancing or paying stock buybacks and dividend payouts and also large bonuses seem to be the order of the day to keep the shareholders happy. You need to shift the audiences, not the shareholders in Wall Street. It's actually the American people and the military personnel in uniform that need to be taken pride of preference for these decisions in industry. And Brent, zooming out here, what are you watching for in terms of China attempting to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its allies? Same play, different audience or arena. This is the same thing they've been trying for many decades. It doesn't surprise the China watchers and those familiar with their activities. Clearly, the Chinese, I think, see in Greenland and they saw an opportunity. I think the doors closed, thankfully, for how the Western European countries in the last day are to have changed their tack and are welcoming doing more in defense in Greenland. Chagos and Diego Garcia right now is the current state of play. Of course, the prime minister in London has pulled back the offer to hand over, effectively hand over this very strategically important chain of islands and atolls. And where the U.S. has Diego Garcia, very strategically important base, would have been easy pickings for the Chinese. So this entropic kind of splintering and trying to pull partners away from each other and use their own legal systems and politics against them, it's going to continue. And that's just the state of being that we need to get adjusted to and actually play the game back on the Chinese, quite frankly. Well, Captain Brent Settler, as always, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Have a good night.