In this June 3, 2011 file photo, the Dalles Dam on the the Columbia River, is shown in The Dalles, Ore.Rick Bowmer/The Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump raised the 61-year-old Columbia River Treaty among a list of grievances with Canada during a call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month, a source in Ottawa said.
The agreement, which is currently under renegotiation, co-ordinates hydroelectric power production and flood control along the 2,000-kilometre Columbia River flowing from B.C. through the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and has long been seen as a model of international water co-operation.
During a Feb. 3 phone call between the two leaders, Mr. Trump read from a four-page memo listing U.S. irritants with Canada that the Prime Minister and Canadian officials believed was an attempt by the President to soften him up as part of the tariff negotiations, the source with direct knowledge of the conversation said.
The President, reading the memo, said the treaty was unfair to the United States and that it needed changes Canada had yet to agree to.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to disclose details of the call.
Mr. Trump also asked the Prime Minister whether he knew about the 1908 Boundary Treaty, and, reading from the memo, said it deals with the demarcation of the borders between the two countries.
The implication from the conversation was that Mr. Trump was trying to intimidate his Canadian counterparts amid tariff negotiations, said the source. The same day, Mr. Trump hit the first 30-day pause on imposing 25-per-cent tariffs on all Canadian imports and a 10-per-cent levy on energy.
The President also included Canada’s dairy supply management system, the digital services tax and the GST among his list of grievances.
The New York Times first reported the conversation about the Columbia River and said the President expressed a desire to tear up Great Lakes agreements between the countries.
The Globe’s source said the Great Lakes were never raised during the call.
Mr. Trump’s criticisms land at an already uncertain time for the landmark Columbia River Treaty, after renegotiation efforts stalled out toward the end of the Biden administration.
“We were all very disappointed we weren’t able to get that deal done before the end of the previous administration,” said Brian Nichols, former U.S. assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who oversaw aspects of the treaty for the Biden White House. “As we filled in the details, there were a number of issues the Canadian side introduced that we thought had already been overcome and we were unable to reach a final agreement despite intensive efforts.”
The modernization effort was seen as necessary to fix imbalances and omissions baked into the original deal.
Former prime minister John Diefenbaker and former president Dwight Eisenhower inked the deal in 1961, spurred by a devastating 1948 flood in Vanport, Ore., and escalating power demands throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Under the original agreement, which was ratified in 1964, B.C. built three dams to store water and optimize flood control and power generation capabilities for U.S. hydroelectric dams downstream. In return, the U.S. would compensate Canada and share hydroelectric revenues, called the Canadian Entitlement.
The treaty dams and reservoirs inundated 110,000 hectares of Canadian land, displaced thousands of residents, flooded significant Indigenous sites, and ravaged ecosystems, including once-plentiful salmon runs.
Over the years, B.C. reaped billions of dollars while U.S. towns got stable water levels and dependable electricity.
In recent years, U.S. utilities complained that the Canadian Entitlement made for onerous electricity prices and myriad groups demanded better ecological and cultural provisions.
The two sides began negotiations in 2018, under the first Trump administration, and announced an agreement in principle last summer. It lowers the Canadian Entitlement but offsets the reduction with increased payments to B.C. for water management and greater flexibility in how the B.C. dams are operated.
“The new treaty has huge advantages for us, and has a lot of support in the United States on the Republican side,” said B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix, whose portfolio includes the treaty.
Mr. Dix said B.C. will hold another meeting with stakeholders later this month because “there’s a risk, concern and uncertainty.”
The countries are now operating under an interim ad-hoc agreement to manage the river system that incorporates some aspects of the agreement in principle.
Mr. Trump’s apparent qualms came as a surprise to those who’ve followed the negotiations closely.
“As far as I know, people on the U.S. side are fairly happy with the agreement in principle,” said Barbara Cosens, professor emerita with the University of Idaho College of Law and member of the Universities Consortium on Columbia River Governance. “Nobody got everything they wanted, but the negotiators were very careful to talk to senators from the Republican side of the aisle.”