Trump is fixed on the border between US Kanada Will Right? | Canada

WMark Carney, Prime Minister of Hen Canada, met Donald Trump in the White House this week. The former central banker, which is notoriously, expected to discuss tariffs, commercial and defense policy.

But when he was sitting next to the president, he was instead treated with a discourse on a more recondititive fixation: the centuries -old border between Canada and the United States.

“Someone pulled this line with a ruler many years ago – just a straight line directly over the top of the country,” he said to Carney and the mass of the assembled reporters.

In the past few months, Trump has fixed the idea of ​​Canada – the closest ally in his country and one of the largest trading partners – as well as the idea that the border between them, is no longer annexed as an “artificially drawn line”, which could possibly be re -drawn with violence and conviction.

“We know what he is doing there: he is just a troll. He just tries to create a chaos and a discussion. He is not on a journey of intellectual discovery and tries to actually understand limits,” said Stephen Bown, author of Dominion: The Railway and The Rise of Canada.

“But he's not entirely imprecise either.”

49. Parallel map

A look at the map of North America shows the clean, crispy and unbroken line that spans the lake of the forest and then reaches for the Pacific Ocean and follows the 49th parallel.

This line was agreed in the course of a series of negotiations between 1783 and 1846 when a large part of the region in question had not even been seen by European settlers.

“It is not as if the British and the Americans have a card and they pulled a ruler on it. They had no card and they only agreed on this imaginary line: the 49th parallel. They projected these imaginary lines further into geography,” said Bown.

Surveys of the federal states have shown a much more complicated reality that makes the border nonsensical in many places on site. In one place it cuts the wrong path through mountain valleys; Elsewhere, rivers wind across the border. And over its length, the border ignores traditional indigenous areas.

“It controls the geographical or cultural sense,” said Bown. “It was only the political will to bring it there – and the political will, which was based on ignorance.”

At that time, the American and British empires ran to conquer and expand territory while trying to avoid a comprehensive conflict.

“It was the era of the obvious fate. And I think this Donald Trump comments could have been canceled from the mid-19th century,” said Bown. “They are almost like a similar fate 2.0.”

Trump, who said at the meeting with Carney that he sees himself as a “very artistic person”, insists that he is inspired by the potential beauty of a uniform continent.

“If you look at this beautiful formation when she is together … I know,” I should be like that, “said the president.

During a phone call in February with Carney predecessor, Trump raised a 1908 contract that delimits the border and said Justin Trudeau that he did not believe that this was valid and threatened to rethink the consent of the USA again.

The employees of the Prime Minister were surprised, a source told the Guardian that only a few officials were familiar with the 117-year-old pact.

And for good reason: the contract – formally as a contract between the United States of America and the United Kingdom in relation to the border between the United States and the rule of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and by representatives of the President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII – is only signed.

“Trump's fixation in this contract always confused me because it was the slightest consequence of all contracts,” Peter Hahn, professor of American history at Ohio State University. “The 1908 settlement was really only a kind of technical adaptation of the subsequent decisions that were made in the 19th century by diplomatic compromises and mutual agreement.”

Starting with the Paris Treaty in 1783 and the conclusion with the Treaty of Oregon in 1846, the political geography of North America was decided by imperial powers.

“The 1908 contract was really only said that the two powers of modern technology would use to define the 49th in parallel through a common survey,” said Hahn. “It is really the contract of the slightest importance.”

Hahn says that Trump's repeated claims that the lines are “arbitrary” are correct – but also reflect the moody and unpredictable way, like all modern limits exist.

“They could have been compromised on the 48th parallel. They could have compromised the 50th parallel, but they opted for the 49th in parallel after they should color and think about what to do. And in this sense, all limits are arbitrary,” he said.

“The border of Washington DC was arbitrary. The property limits around Mar-A-Lago were also the product of human action and human decision-making. And in the case of the US Canadian border, it was made so that the two could get along, a more comprehensive conflict and could pass into more important things.”

Nevertheless, Hahn warned that the submission of a border contract would violate international law and would be a step that would bring the bilateral relationship to unknown areas.

“The US government signed the contract. The US Senate ratified it. It was ratified from the other side. So it assumes legal force,” he said, adding that Trump was able to tear the border agreement.

And as in so many topics, experts are skeptical that Trump's opinion actually reflects a political position. Hahn suggested that Trump did not seriously intend to reopen border negotiations, but instead hopes to use the topic in other areas as a trial.

“It is important to remember that President Trump has a certain leadership style that is based on saying outrageous things to arouse controversy and provoke his political critics and opponents. He seems to live from attention, be it positive or negative,” he said.

“Much of what he says about this topic is stormy because it fulfills this political strategy that every attention is a good thing, even if it is negative attention.”