FORMER US President Donald Trump has once again stirred controversy by suggesting a revision of the US-Canada border, according to a report by the local US media.
During two phone conversations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 3 February, Trump reportedly expressed his desire to “revise the boundary” between the two nations and questioned the validity of a 117-year-old treaty that established the current borders.
The 1908 treaty, signed by then-US President Theodore Roosevelt and the UK’s King Edward VII, finalised the international boundary between the United States and Canada, which was then a British colony.
However, Trump reportedly told Trudeau that he did not believe the treaty remained valid and proposed changes to the border, offering no further details on what revisions he had in mind.
The conversations between Trump and Trudeau primarily revolved around trade issues, with Canada seeking to dissuade Trump from imposing tariffs on Canadian imports.
The report states that the Republican president aired a “long list of grievances” about trade relations between the two countries and reiterated his controversial claim that the US-Canada border was merely “an artificially drawn line.”
In response to Trump’s remarks, Trudeau reportedly reminded him that Canada’s Constitution had since replaced the treaty in question.
He also referenced his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who patriated the Constitution and established the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, granting Canada full sovereignty over its own territory.
Beyond the border dispute, Trump also raised concerns about agreements governing the shared use of lakes and rivers between the two countries. These agreements, regulated by various treaties, could also be subject to revision under Trump’s expansionist vision for US-Canada relations.
Canadian officials are said to have taken Trump’s comments seriously, given his history of making economic threats against Canada.
Since winning the November 2024 US presidential election, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada could become the 51st American state and has threatened to use “economic force” to pressure the country into compliance with US trade demands.
The tensions between Washington and Ottawa escalated further on Thursday when Trump imposed tariffs of up to 25 per cent on Canadian imports.
However, the move triggered market instability, prompting Trump to temporarily pause the tariffs for a month amid concerns over inflation and economic growth.
In response, the Canadian government announced a delay in its own planned wave of retaliatory tariffs on 125 billion Canadian dollars’ worth of US goods, pushing the implementation date to 2 April.
Adding to the friction, Trump recently renewed his “Governor Trudeau” jibe, mocking the outgoing prime minister and accusing him of using the trade dispute to prolong his time in office.
Trudeau, who is set to leave office on 9 March, has not publicly commented on Trump’s latest remarks about the border.
