Rob Crilly is a British journalist living in New York. He was The Telegraph's Afghanistan and Pakistan correspondent and was previously the East Africa correspondent for The Times of London. The opinions in this article are those of the author.

(CNN) This Englishman living in New York has become wearily accustomed to Americans claiming credit for British inventions and achievements.

Rob Crilly

All the mythmaking at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown can't change the fact that the sport is based on rounders , a game for children in the UK. Thomas Edison may have produced the first commercial lightbulb, but it was an Englishman -- Humphry Davy -- who came up with the arc lamp, and another Brit -- Warren De la Rue -- who turned it into a bulb.

Disastrous colonial adventures overseas? Rest assured, we've been doing it for a lot longer than you have.

Which is why I find Donald Trump's latest blunder all the more egregious.

During an apparently difficult call to discuss import tariffs with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, Trump reached into his historical locker as he searched for just the right metaphor to express his national security concerns about those notoriously restive neighbors to the north.

Read More