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OTTAWA — When the U.S. trade commissioner called Canada’s claim to a major future Arctic shipping route “illegitimate” on Monday, it revived a long-standing feud that could become increasingly heated in coming years as new northern trade corridors open up.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a swipe at Canada in a speech during an Arctic Council meeting in Finland, when he questioned the country’s claim to the Northwest Passage — a waterway stretching across the north of Canada that could one day become a global hub for commercial trade.

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The Canada-U.S. feud stretches back decades. But as glacial ice in the North continues to melt, in turn opening new trade corridors between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, questions of sovereignty could soon take on a new urgency, raising doubts about Canada’s sovereignty claims and its ability to protect its Arctic waters.

Canada currently considers the Northwest Passage internal waters, which technically gives it control over what ships are allowed to pass through. The U.S. and others, meanwhile, consider it to be international waters, which would effectively make it available to most commercial vessels.