Story highlights The U.S.-Canada state dinner Thursday will feature a dessert using American maple syrup

The menu is meant to celebrate the resolute -- if sometimes overlooked -- partnership between the U.S. and Canada

Justin Trudeau is the first Canadian prime minister to be honored with a state dinner in nearly two decades

(CNN) A long-simmering transborder dispute between the United States and Canada isn't expected to be resolved during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to the White House Thursday.

It's not softwood lumber or Alberta crude oil that's dividing the two stalwart partners. It's maple syrup.

Among the haute American cuisine featured on Thursday night's State Dinner menu is a pecan cake the White House says will feature caramelized maple syrup from New England, and not from the honored guest's home across the northern border.

Canadians and Americans have long held their own versions of the treacly liquid as superior. Even in the United States, feuds between producers in Vermont, New Hampshire, upstate New York and Maine have divided a maple-consuming public.

The White House pastry chef, Susie Morrison, said the New England product was selected since it was more readily available.

Read More