In Canada, I saw how Trump is ripping North America apart – and how hard its bond will be to repair | Andy Beckett

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With the US pres­i­dent now warmer to Moscow than to Ottawa, it’s lit­tle sur­prise Cana­di­ans I met rolled their eyes at the decline of the spe­cial relationship

As wealthy but light­ly defend­ed coun­tries have often learned, being close to a much more pow­er­ful state – geo­graph­i­cal­ly or diplo­mat­i­cal­ly – can be a pre­car­i­ous exis­tence. All it takes is an aggres­sive new gov­ern­ment in the stronger state and a rel­a­tive­ly equal rela­tion­ship of eco­nom­ic and mil­i­tary coop­er­a­tion can sud­den­ly turn exploita­tive, even threatening.

Since Don­ald Trump’s sec­ond inau­gu­ra­tion, this real­i­sa­tion has been dawn­ing across the west, but nowhere more dis­con­cert­ing­ly than in Cana­da. Its bor­der with the US is the longest in the world: 5,525 miles of often emp­ty and hard to defend land, lakes and rivers. Canada’s two biggest cities, Toron­to and Mon­tre­al, are only a few hours to the north, were you to approach them in a US army tank.

Andy Beck­ett is a Guardian columnist

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