Attacks by President Donald Trump on Canada’s water and sovereignty, and a full-on trade war, have not only upended relations between the countries but have also threatened negotiations over a crucial treaty that governs use of the Columbia River.
“It’s these really vicious attacks made on us that cause us concern,” said Adrian Dix, chief of B.C.’s Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions, in a public briefing Tuesday about the modernization of the Columbia River Treaty. The Trump administration has paused further treaty discussions.
The U.S. and Canada have peacefully shared the benefits of the Columbia River, from flood control to hydropower generation, under the treaty since it was ratified in 1964. While negotiations are paused, a provisional agreement remains in place.
But the abrupt pause has rattled relations, especially amid other actions by the administration, including referring to Canada as a 51st state and the Columbia River as a “large faucet”, presumably for use by the United States.
It is normal for a new administration to pause treaty negotiations upon first taking office. But this moment between the U.S. and Canada is anything but.
“It’s attacks on Canada, on our sovereignty, the first of their kind, certainly in my lifetime, or in a couple of centuries” Dix said.
A lot is at stake in the treaty, noted U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell in a statement to The Seattle Times, calling out affordable electricity, flood risk and salmon recovery.
“I hope this decade long regional effort won’t be another casualty of President Trump’s unprovoked and senseless trade war with our Northern ally,” Cantwell said.
The Columbia River rises in Canada, at Columbia Lake. It is the mightiest river in the Northwest, draining an area the size of France in parts of seven U.S. states and one Canadian province. It has been heavily dammed on both sides of the border for flood control and power generation.
The provisional agreement agreed to last July is intended to modernize treaty provisions governing operations of dams that control flooding, while also providing reliable flows critical for irrigation, fish, electricity and other needs.
The provisional agreement reduces the amount of power the U.S. sends to Canada, but also affords the U.S. less storage capacity in Canadian reservoirs to protect downstream communities in Washington and Oregon from floods for a minimum of 20 years.
The deal allows Canada more opportunities to import and export hydropower into the U.S. market, a crucial boost to both countries striving to reach clean-energy goals. What’s ahead now to get the deal finally done is hard to say.
Some are aghast at the most recent developments.
“It’s very hard to put into words how confused, bewildered and betrayed huge numbers of Canadians are feeling about U.S. policies right now,” said Jason Colby, chair of the history department at the University of Victoria. “It is sort of threatening, to tear up or discard the mutual arrangement and revisions of the treaty and saying no, we’re going to want you to give up more or we are entitled to more; I think that puts people really ill at ease.”
Poor relations don’t make for better outcomes, noted Joseph Bogaard, executive director of Save Our Wild Salmon, which along with faith organizations, conservation groups and Native nations have been working for more than a decade to get the best deal possible in the treaty for the health of the river and its salmon.
The agreement was a deep disappointment for fish and river advocates who had been hoping for a better outcome as the deal is finalized.
“Our best future is collaborative,” Bogaard said. “And what is happening right now is certainly throwing that kind of relationship into question.”
Amid the turmoil over the river, the administration also has been threatening and imposing tariffs as high as 25% on some goods from Canada. Trump had to walk back some tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods to protect the U.S. auto industry, after acknowledging the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement he himself had signed in 2020.
Trump initiated the tariffs in February to take action against allegedly uncontrolled trafficking of fentanyl and illegal immigrants at the border, according to a statement from the White House, allegations Canadian officials have denied.
Canada and the United States are each other’s largest trading partners and have one of the world’s most comprehensive and dynamic trading relationships, which supports millions of jobs in both countries.
From softwood lumber to oil and natural gas, the U.S. is deeply dependent on Canadian goods — and benefits in the trade of many products, especially from Washington farms, according to an analysis from Cantwell’s office. Canada is Washington state agriculture’s No. 1 export market, valued at $1.3 billion in 2023.
The existing treaty remains in place as does the provisional agreement, Dix noted, until the revision is ratified. The treaty can’t just be terminated or held up as a bargaining chip in the trade war; either side must give the other 10 years’ notice before termination could take effect.
And it is in the interest of both nations to finalize the treaty, Dix said, though, at the rate things are going, “We are prepared for any action the American government might take, and will continue to defend Canadian and British Columbian interests,” Dix said.
It is a sorrowful moment between two countries who for so long have shared a peaceful and productive history, he noted. “We love the United States … we have always loved the United States … and we do not understand the treatment we are receiving when we’ve been allies for all these many years.”
