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Over the past few weeks, basic geopolitical facts —that the United States would not forcibly expand its borders or that a NATO member state would never invade another member state—have become suddenly unsettled, thanks almost entirely to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing threats against Greenland. It has all been, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said, a “rupture,” a moment in which an old order collapses and a new one struggles to be born.

While much of the attention has focused on the fracture in trans-Atlantic relations, much of that rupture has centered on something far closer to home for Carney: U.S.-Canada relations. Because it’s not just Denmark or Greenland that is suddenly realizing Washington under Trump is now a threat. It is also Canada, which is now witnessing a U.S. government openly menacing not only Canadian sovereignty but even Canadian nationhood itself. Trump has himself threatened Canada time and again, calling for the US to absorb Canada and repeatedly suggesting that the border between the two nations should be erased. Nor is this just idle chatter; just last week we learned that that Trump administration officials had begun meeting directly with separatists in Alberta, who are keen to break their province off of Canada and attach it to the US.

Over the past few weeks, basic geopolitical facts —that the United States would not forcibly expand its borders or that a NATO member state would never invade another member state—have become suddenly unsettled, thanks almost entirely to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing threats against Greenland. It has all been, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said, a “rupture,” a moment in which an old order collapses and a new one struggles to be born.

While much of the attention has focused on the fracture in trans-Atlantic relations, much of that rupture has centered on something far closer to home for Carney: U.S.-Canada relations. Because it’s not just Denmark or Greenland that is suddenly realizing Washington under Trump is now a threat. It is also Canada, which is now witnessing a U.S. government openly menacing not only Canadian sovereignty but even Canadian nationhood itself. Trump has himself threatened Canada time and again, calling for the US to absorb Canada and repeatedly suggesting that the border between the two nations should be erased. Nor is this just idle chatter; just last week we learned that that Trump administration officials had begun meeting directly with separatists in Alberta, who are keen to break their province off of Canada and attach it to the US.

The days of laughing off Trump’s threats of turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state are long past. A new reality has suddenly rippled across Canada: that the United States under Trump is, as strange as it may be to stomach, suddenly Canada’s largest national security threat.

It is a reality that Canadians are finally beginning to adapt to. But it is........

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