‘Canada set fire to White House’ in 1814

WASHINGTON:WHEN US President Donald Trump defends his tough trade position before leaders from America’s closest and oldest allies at a G-7 summit starting in Canada on Friday, he may choose to either steer clear of historical references, or get them right.

He goes there with an embarrassing booboo, about what has been called America’s “Second war of independence”. In a testy phone call with Canadian premier Justin Trudeau on May 25, while discussing the newly imposed duties on steel and aluminium (25% and 10% respectively), Trump asked: “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?”

The reference was to the War of 1812 that was started by Americans declaring war on Britain and attacking the latter’s colony in what is now Canada. A retaliatory attack led by a British general had burnt down Washington DC, the White House, Congress and other government buildings in 1814.

The war ended in 1815 with the Treaty of Ghent.

Trump referred to the war, according to CNN, in a reply to Trudeau’s question about the rationale used by the US to levy the tariff, under a little-known and used law to justify it as a “national security” issue.

Reports of the phone call did not detail Trudeau’s response, specially about a part of US history that would give the country its national anthem, the “Starspangled banner”.

The US president will need more than history when he confronts his G-7 allies, some of whom have publicly been critical of the new tariffs that have aleady attracted retaliatory steps from some of them .