From Allies to Assets? Canada’s Place in the New U S National Security Playbook

Описание: The United States’ new national strategy signals a fundamental shift in how Washington understands power and security in the 21st century. Rather than emphasizing economic integration, the strategy reframes artificial intelligence, data, cloud infrastructure, critical minerals, and the Arctic as core elements of national and geopolitical security.

This talk will explore how these priorities are reshaping North American strategic thinking and what they mean for Canada’s role in an increasingly competitive and technology‑driven global order. Connecting recent developments such as the U.S. AI Action Plan and growing friction over global digital regulation, the discussion will examine how questions of sovereignty, influence, and strategic autonomy are coming to the forefront of Canada’s policy choices.

About the Speaker

Prof. Barry Appleton, FCIArb, is a Balsillie Scholar and one of North America’s leading legal architects of sovereign economic policy, trade law, and investment treaty arbitration. As Managing Partner of Appleton & Associates International Lawyers LP in Toronto and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for International Law at New York Law School, he advises governments and strategic sectors on how to navigate and shape the evolving legal terrain of international commerce, digital sovereignty, and geopolitical risk.