President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration is moving forward with a Golden Dome missile defense system.
The president told reporters in the Oval Office, “We have officially selected an architecture for the state-of-the-art system that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea, and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.”
It will protect the United States from ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, as well as drones.
Not surprisingly, Trump noted, our neighbors to the north, Canada, want to be included in the defense system.
“Canada has called us, and they want to be a part of it, so we’ll be talking to them. They want to have protection, also. So, as usual, we help Canada. We do the best we can,” he added.
???? #BREAKING: President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have announced the GOLDEN DOME missile defense system for the U.S.
“Golden Dome will be capable of catching missiles from across the world or even SPACE.”
“We’ll be completing the job Reagan started 40 years ago!”
Trump also… pic.twitter.com/MX1URx1fa0
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 20, 2025
A reporter asked how he responds to the critics who argue the system will be too expensive, potentially ineffective, and could trigger an arms race in space.
“Well, they’re wrong,” Trump answered. “It’s about as close to perfect as you can have” in terms of accuracy. He explained earlier that it is expected to hit nearly 100 percent of its targets.
“I told you Canada wants to be a part of it, which would be a fairly small expansion, but we’ll work with them on pricing,” he added.
Trump on the Golden Dome: “Canada wants to be a part of it, which would be a fairly small expansion, but we’ll work with them on pricing.”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 20, 2025
Trump has voiced his frustration with Canada for not shouldering more of its share of the defense burden, noting it is not living up to its NATO obligation of dedicating at least 2 percent of its GDP to military spending.
According to its government, Canada will spend 1.37 percent of GDP on defense in 2024-25, with plans to reach the 2 percent NATO-compliant threshold by 2032.
By contrast, the U.S. spent 3.4 percent of its GDP on the military in 2024.
While discussing the Golden Dome, Trump noted that it was Israel’s joint venture with the United States starting in the 1980’s, when Ronald Reagan was president, that led to its Iron Dome air defense system, as well as America’s current limited anti-missile defense.
“As you know, we helped Israel with theirs, and it is very successful. And now we have technology that far-advanced from that,” the president said.
“The Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles, even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space. And we will have the best system ever built,” Trump contended.
“We will truly be completing the job Ronald Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” the president said.
On this day in 1983, Ronald Reagan calls upon America’s scientific community to develop spaced-based weapons to shield the U.S. against Soviet ICBMs. Officially dubbed the Strategic Defense Initiative, critics of the multi-billion dollar program will refer to it as “Star Wars.” pic.twitter.com/YbNAxyABfz
— Military History Now (@MilHistNow) March 23, 2023
Trump pointed out that the “One Big Beautiful Bill” includes $25 billion to get the Golden Dome started.
He anticipates it will be completed before the end of his term and cost $175 billion.
And, according to Trump, if Canada wants under the Golden Dome, they’ll have to pay up!
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