Is Donald Trump right when he says the border is just an ‘artificially drawn line’?

In a recent meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated one of his favorite talking points, calling the Canada-U.S. border an “artificially drawn line.” He described the border as a straight line that was drawn many years ago with a ruler, suggesting that it was a random and arbitrary demarcation.

When asked about his thoughts on Trump’s comments, Prime Minister Carney jokingly replied that he was glad that the reporter couldn’t tell what was going through his mind. Trump has often referred to the border line as “imaginary” and has even raised the idea of annexing Canada in the past.

While Canadian history experts acknowledge that the process of establishing the Canada-U.S. border was complex and involved numerous treaties over more than a century, they also agree that Trump’s characterization is not entirely inaccurate. Stephen Bown, author of Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada, explained that many international boundary agreements from the 19th century were somewhat nonsensical, as they were drawn by individuals who had never even visited the land they were marking up.

The initial drawing of the border between the United States and British North America began in the east with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, following the American Revolution. Subsequent treaties, such as the Treaty of 1818, gradually pushed the border westward, culminating in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, which settled a dispute between the British and the Americans and established the 49th parallel as the border line to the Pacific coast.

Despite the sometimes arbitrary nature of these agreements, the Canada-U.S. border has remained largely unchanged over the years. The last major border move occurred in 1908, when the southeast border of Alaska was negotiated between the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. While disputes over the border have been settled peacefully through treaties, the line is now firmly established as the world’s longest undefended border, stretching almost 9,000 kilometers across land and water.

Craig Baird, host of the podcast Canadian History Ehx, emphasized that redrawing the border in the 21st century would be nearly impossible, as the line has become deeply ingrained in both countries’ histories. Despite its origins as an artificially drawn line, the Canada-U.S. border is now a symbol of the peaceful coexistence between two neighboring nations.