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WARSAW, Poland — Although he did not single out any country by name, U.S. President Barack Obama made it clear Saturday that he expected much more of countries such as Canada, which spend less than two per cent of GDP on national defence.

After listing the few NATO countries that met the longstanding two per cent pledge, Obama told the rest: “Everybody has got to step up. Everybody has got to do better.”

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Canada is by far the worst offender in the alliance, ranking 23rd out of 28 countries. Its spending on defence dipped below one per cent according to statistics published by NATO last week.

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Trudeau had a much easier time of it when he met on Saturday with Latvia President Raimonds Vejonis to discuss Canada’s intention to lead a combat battalion early next year in the Baltic country.

“We can organize some ice hockey games,” Vejonis joked to Trudeau when the two leaders met for the first time, alluding to the two countries’ shared passion for Canada’s national pastime.