German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to meet with his Canadian counterpart David McGuinty in Ottawa on Wednesday, with security and arms cooperation, support for Ukraine and the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara expected to top the agenda.
Pistorius also plans to attend the CANSEC trade show, considered Canada's top defence and security event.
Unlike previous visits to the NATO partner, Pistorius will not travel on to the United States for talks in Washington, even though the government in Berlin had sought to arrange meetings to clarify important issues.
German-US relations have been strained recently by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's blunt criticism of the war in Iran, which triggered a strong broadside from President Donald Trump as well as a Pentagon announcement that it would withdraw thousands of US troops stationed in Germany.
Relations with Canada, which has repeatedly been caught in the crosshairs of Trump's trade policies, are much less complicated. Berlin hopes to convince Ottawa to order submarines from German manufacturer TKMS as part of a joint submarine project with Norway.
The three nations entered a maritime security partnership in July 2024 that also covers arms cooperation. Denmark has since also joined the alliance.
