The border treaty Donald Trump recently referred to was established in 1908 and finalized the international boundary between Canada, then a British dominion, and the U.S. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties. For years, both Canada and the U.S. have shared responsibility and resources in managing border security and environmental concerns surrounding the Great Lakes in particular. For example, the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement signed by Canada and the U.S. in 1991 to address transboundary air pollution leading to acid rain. Both countries agreed to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, the primary precursors to acid rain, and to work together on acid rain-related scientific and technical cooperation. The Ozone Annex was added to the Agreement in 2000 to address transboundary air pollution leading to high ambient levels of ground-level ozone, a major component of smog. One result was that, as of 2020, emissions of sulphur dioxide in Canada and the U.S. decreased by 78% and 92%, respectively, from 1990 emission levels. This preserved our water quality and in turn the health of our fish stocks in shared waters and in general.
As far as border security is concerned, this is a red herring put out there by Donald Trump. As it stands, for sometime now, only less than one percent of the fentanyl comes across the border from Canada, as per the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Under the other hand, the Royal Canadian Mounted Policy (RCMP) estimates that over 80% of all guns used in violent crimes in Canada originate in the U.S.
According to the New York Times (March 7, 2025), Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated that Trump wants to abandon our treaties and he wants to:
- eject Canada out of an intelligence-sharing group known as the Five Eyes that also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand,
- tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two nations that lay out how they share and manage Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario, and
- review and reconsider military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
We already know that Trump is interested in having access to Canada’s abundance of critical mineral rights as noted in my previous blog of February 17, 2005: Trump’s Trade Policy Appears to be Directed at Securing Critical Mineral Rights | FROLITICKS.
With his recent flip flopping on the proposed 25 percent tariffs against all Canadian exports to the U.S., it’s hard to get a reading on where Trump’s next move will go. All that his administration is doing is creating a hell of a lot of global and economic uncertainty. His expectation that Canadians would be cow towing to his wishes is way off. If anything, he has generated an immense amount of Canadian pride across this country. Canadians see these attacks on our sovereignty as an insult, especially from a nation that was a trusted friend and ally. All in all, it’s difficult to know exactly what Trump’s expectations are! Just how are Canadians supposed to react differently? Your guess is as good as mine!
FROLITICKS 
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