How Canada Can Break Free of Dependence on the U.S.
The nation should step up efforts to attract the immigrants who once made its southern neighbor so successful.
What if they became Americans instead?
Photographer: George Rose/Getty Images North AmericaCanada and its southern neighbor haven’t always been the best of friends. In 1812, a newly confident United States attempted to invade Canada, which was then still part of the British Empire. That invasion failed, and it was followed in subsequent decades by a number of cross-border skirmishes. It was only in the years after the American Civil War, when Anglosphere unity began to take hold, that the U.S. and Canada became fast friends. The U.S. has served as Canada’s military protector and main export market, as well as a destination for many of its most talented workers.
Now, as the U.S. convulses over identity and party, Canada again has reason to doubt the reliability of its main alliance. Military clashes seem highly unlikely, but President Donald Trump has launched a trade war against Canada, imposing steel tariffs, threatening hefty levies on auto imports and threatening to kick the country out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He has even brought up the War of 1812.