Trump Tried to Take Canada's Water. What He Found Out Next Stopped Him Cold.

 

40 million Americans, across 8 states from Minnesota to New York, drink water from the Great Lakes — the largest system of fresh surface water on Earth, holding 20% of the planet's drinkable surface water. And half of it belongs to Canada. 

 

For 116 years, the two countries have shared those lakes under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty — one of the most respected water agreements in the world. Its core rule: neither side can divert or touch the shared water without the other. The faucet was built with two handles, on purpose. 

 

Then Trump called Canadian water a "giant faucet" he could turn on to fix California's droughts. He reportedly told Canada the treaty that draws the border isn't even valid. He paused Columbia River water negotiations, disinvited Canadian mayors from a Great Lakes summit, and floated tearing up the agreements that govern Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. 

 

He thought the water was his to take. He had it backwards. 

 

There is no real faucet — piping lake water to California is an engineering fantasy. And tearing up the treaty wouldn't hand America the water; it would REMOVE the rules that protect America's 40 million drinkers and free Canada to do as it wishes on its half. The treaty is the only thing that gives the U.S. a say over the Canadian half of the lakes.  

 

The honest truth: the lakes are shared. Ontario draws 80% of its people's water from them too. Toronto and Detroit drink from the same lake. That's exactly why weaponizing it is folly — and why the century-old deal to never do so was wisdom, not weakness.  

 

 

 

Source:     The Decision Room