NORAD Pact Would Change if Canada Pulls Out of F-35 Deal, Trump Envoy Tells Ottawa

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said American interventions in Canadian airspace would increase if the country didn’t purchase the fighter jets.

An F-35A Lightning II fighter jet practices for an air show appearance in Ottawa, Canada, on Sept. 6, 2019. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

The U.S. ambassador to Canada warned that the arrangements involving the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) may have to change if Ottawa doesn’t follow through on a deal to purchase 88 American-made F-35 fighter jets, in an interview published on Jan. 26.

“NORAD would have to be altered,” U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told CBC News.