Washington DC - President Donald Trump's Department of Defense demanded to see Ottawa's military spending plans mere days after taking a knife to a key US-Canada bilateral planning body.

The Pentagon specifically wants to see how Canada plans on meeting NATO's new military spending benchmark, and whether it will proceed with the purchasing of US-made F-35 fighter jets.

According to senior Pentagon officials, who spoke to Canadian journalists on Thursday, the DOD wants Canada to have a clear road map to spending 3.5% of its GDP on the military, and an additional 1.5% on other forms of its defense infrastructure.

This has been a key sticking point for negotiations not only on defense cooperation, but also the renegotiation of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and other US-Canada collaborations.

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It is believed that the lack of clarity from Ottawa was a key part of the decision, announced by US Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby on Monday, to temporarily suspend the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD).

"Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments," Colby said. "We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly hit back at the PJBD's suspension on Tuesday, saying he "wouldn't overplay the importance of this" while stressing that Canada and US have "lots of cooperation."

"The [Pentagon] is monitoring Canada's defense investment and will reengage in this forum when it is possible to have a serious discussion about our mutual security," one DOD official was cited as saying by CBC.

"The Canadian government's delays and lack of transparency around its ongoing F-35 review are just one example of the prioritization of politics over our shared responsibility for North America's defense."