The Columbia River Treaty between the U.S. and Canada governs the use of one of North America’s largest rivers, the Columbia, with provisions that provide for effective flood control, irrigation, and hydropower generation and sharing between the countries. As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian products and electricity, calls to end the water treaty are getting louder. Correction: An earlier version of this description incorrectly referred to the Boundary Waters Treaty, a legal agreement between Canada and the U.S. broadly governing the use of shared waters. In fact, this story focuses on the Columbia River Treaty, which applies to the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers on both sides of the border.
