Canada and the US: Sleeping with the Elephant

The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term were nothing if not controversial. This was especially the case in the United States’ northern neighbour where his talk of Canada becoming the ‘51st state’ and his imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports of cars and parts caused anger and consternation. To add insult to injury, the US president repeatedly referred to the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as ‘Governor Trudeau’.

While American rhetoric of this kind has not been heard for well over a century it is not without precedent, and it highlights three major themes in the history of Canada-US relations. Firstly, the uneasy relationship between the two countries because of the imbalance in population and power, and the growing concern among many Canadians that their country has become too dependent on the US in terms of its security, its economy, and even its culture. The second theme is the major role of tariffs – and trade in general – in affecting Canada’s relations with the US. And thirdly, there is the role of Britain, reluctant to risk its ‘special relationship’ with either party, and often caught in the middle of disputes between them. Trump’s stated desire for Canada to become part of the US has placed the British government in an uncomfortable position as it has traditionally enjoyed a close relationship with both countries, in what the Canadian historian John Bartlet Brebner, writing at the end of the Second World War, termed the ‘North Atlantic Triangle’. King Charles III remains Canada’s head of state; it was therefore somewhat embarrassing when, at the same time that the US president was pressuring the Canadian government over its sovereignty, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, was in the White House presenting him with an invitation from the king for an unprecedented second state visit.

Uneasy neighbours

Mark Carney, Canada’s new Liberal prime minister, made full use of the president’s rhetoric to frame the Canadian federal election of April 2025 as a referendum on which leader would be best able to stand up to Trump and thereby defend Canadian sovereignty. The Conservative standard-bearer, Pierre Poilievre, had enjoyed a commanding lead in the opinion polls since becoming his party’s leader in 2022, but his use of populist rhetoric to criticise the Liberal government led to frequent comparisons with Trump. Although not a seasoned politician like Poilievre, Carney fought a campaign on ‘Canadian values’ and the need to stand up to Trump. He also highlighted Canada’s differences from the US, not least the significant role of the francophone population, especially in Quebec, and the much stronger profile of Canada’s indigenous peoples.

Many of these differences can be traced back to the early history of North America. American troops invaded Canada in 1775 during the American War of Independence and again in the War of 1812, taking advantage of Britain’s war against Napoleonic France to attempt to drive the British out of North America for good. On the second occasion the former president, Thomas Jefferson, declared that the acquisition of Canada was ‘a mere matter of marching’. But he underestimated the strength of the British forces stationed in Canada and the lack of enthusiasm for US rule on the part of the Canadians, including both the French and English-speaking population, which included Loyalists who had fled to Canada during the American Revolution. The War of 1812 ended in stalemate at the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, but Canada and the US remained uneasy neighbours. There were unsettled boundary disputes and periodic fears of a US invasion, especially during the 1845 Oregon dispute over the western boundary line between the US and Canada.

The American Civil War was another critical period. The Alabama was a Confederate warship built in the Birkenhead shipyard near Liverpool in 1862. It crossed the Atlantic and went on to capture or sink more than 50 Northern merchant ships before it was finally sunk in 1864. The Union government led by Abraham Lincoln demanded financial compensation from Britain and there was talk of war, in the event of which Canada would have been a prime target. William Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state, who arranged the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, was a vocal advocate of acquiring Canada. US designs on Canada were one reason for the establishment of the Canadian Confederation in 1867, following the British North America Act which granted Canada self-government. Eventually the British government, led by William Gladstone, agreed to arbitration to settle the Alabama claims, resulting in the Treaty of Washington of 1871. In return, the US recognised Canadian de facto sovereignty, and the majority of British troops were able to leave Canada.

Tariffs and prohibition

This, however, was not the end of Canadian-US enmity. The outcome of the Alaska boundary dispute in 1903 – when the British government effectively sided with the US president Theodore Roosevelt in settling the disputed boundary line between the US and Canada in the ‘Alaska panhandle’ – caused a great deal of resentment in Canada. One of the representatives on the boundary tribunal was Henry Cabot Lodge, a US senator and friend of Roosevelt, who advocated the purchase or annexation of Canada. Anti-American resentment resurfaced during the Canadian general election of 1911 when the Conservatives campaigned against a tariff agreement with the US negotiated by the Liberal government of Wilfrid Laurier on the grounds that it would lead to increased US economic influence over Canada and undermine Canada’s traditional links with Britain. The Liberals were defeated and Laurier’s time as prime minister came to an end after 15 years – the longest continuous premiership in Canadian history.

There were also disputes during the 1920s resulting from increased US tariffs as well as the advent of Prohibition and the large-scale smuggling of alcohol from Canada, especially to New York and Chicago. Relations did not greatly improve until the end of Prohibition in 1933 and the introduction of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘Good Neighbour’ policy. A trade agreement with Canada that lowered tariffs was signed in 1935, and in 1936 Roosevelt made the first state visit by a US president to Canada when he met the governor-general, Lord Tweedsmuir (John Buchan, the erstwhile novelist), in Quebec City.

‘Sleeping with an elephant’

The onset of the Second World War, and especially the fall of France in 1940 and Britain’s focus on its own defence, meant that Canada came to rely increasingly on the US for its security. This trend continued after the war when the threat seemed to come from the Soviet Union and its allies. As a result, in 1958 Canada and the US formed NORAD – the North American Air Defense Command – which constituted a major step towards the integration of Canadian national security with that of the US. However, the imbalance of power remained self-evident. President John F. Kennedy shared very little information with Canadian leaders during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and Lyndon B. Johnson was furious with Prime Minister Lester Pearson when he appeared to be critical of US conduct during the Vietnam War. Similarly, Pierre Trudeau, another Liberal prime minister, had a strained relationship with Richard Nixon. Upon being informed that Nixon had called him an ‘asshole’, Trudeau retorted: ‘I’ve been called worse things by better people.’

It was Pierre Trudeau who famously summed up Canada’s ‘American dilemma’ when speaking to an audience at the National Press Club in Washington DC in 1969. ‘Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast … one is affected by every twitch and grunt.’

His son Justin, who became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, certainly came to understand the truth of this statement. Despite the fact that NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, signed in 1992 – was largely an American initiative, it was attacked by Donald Trump during his first term as president as ‘the worst agreement in American history’. It was slightly modified in 2020 and renamed USMCA – the United States, Mexican and Canadian Agreement. Trudeau had been overheard making fun of the US president to other world leaders during a reception at Buckingham Palace following a NATO summit in 2019 and Trump later responded that Trudeau was ‘two-faced’. The president had clearly not forgotten the incident when he returned to the White House for his second term.

Elbows up

The Liberal party of Laurier, Mackenzie King, and the Trudeaus – by far the most successful in Canadian history – has traditionally been seen as closer to the US, with the Conservatives closer to Canada’s British heritage. However, in recent years, and especially under the leadership of Pierre Poilievre, the Conservatives have become identified with the rhetoric of President Trump. This greatly undermined their appeal in the April election and although they gained some seats the Liberals were able to triumph once again. Mark Carney, making use of the ice hockey slogan ‘elbows up’ (coined by Canadian hockey great Gordie Howe) emerged as the strongest defender of Canada’s sovereignty against ‘Trumpism’ and joined the Canadian House of Commons for the first time, while Pierre Poilievre lost the seat he had held for more than 20 years.

Tony McCulloch is Associate Professor of North American Studies at UCL and President of the British Association for Canadian Studies.