U.S. pauses Columbia River Treaty talks as trade tensions grow, B.C. minister says [Video]

B.C.’s Energy Ministry says the United States has paused negotiations with Canada on the wide-reaching Columbia River Treaty that regulates everything from flood control and power generation to water supply and salmon restoration in the region.

The ministry says in a news release that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration “is conducting a broad review of its international engagement.”

The two countries reached an in-principle deal on a new version of the decades-old treaty last July, and while officials from both countries pushed for its finalization before Trump took office in January, the treaty’s fate remains unsettled.

The Columbia River’s headwaters are in British Columbia before it flows down into the states of Washington and Oregon.

“If people know B.C.’s history, [the treaty] is a significant part of the modern history of B.C.,” Energy Minister Adrian Dix said on Tuesday.

The stoppage in talks comes amid trade tensions between Canada and …