Mattawa Declaration
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| Type | Joint declaration |
|---|---|
| Signed | 12 June 1975 |
| Location | Mattawa Line House, Ontario |
| Signatories | European Federation; United States |
| Negotiators | Pieter de Wit (Federation Foreign Secretary); Lionel Shaw (US Secretary of State) |
The Mattawa Declaration is a joint declaration of the European Federation and the United States, signed at the Mattawa Line House in Canada on 12 June 1975, which ended the state of war between them that had lasted since 1940. It did not settle the frontier between them and was not followed by a peace treaty. The line in Canada became a line of control "without prejudice to the claims of either party", and Quebec and Newfoundland remained in dispute. The Declaration also opened trade between the two powers, under licence, for the first time since the First Euro-American War.
Background
The First Euro-American War had ended with the Cessation of 1947, identical declarations that stopped the fighting and signed nothing. The two powers remained formally at war, with no trade and no diplomatic relations, and dealt with each other at the Mattawa Line House and through Bern.
In the early 1970s the American government under President Glenn Mathers sought trade with Europe, and after the strikes of September 1974 relaxed the emergency government of the Columbia League. The Federation's Foreign Secretary, Pieter de Wit, proposed talks on ending the state of war in November 1974. The two delegations met at the Mattawa Line House in eleven rounds between January and June 1975.
Provisions
The Declaration:
- ended the state of war between the European Federation and the United States;
- made the line in Canada of 1947 a line of control "without prejudice to the claims of either party", to be kept and marked jointly;
- left the status of Quebec and Newfoundland, claimed by the United States under its annexation acts of 1941, to "future agreement";
- permitted trade between the two powers under licences issued by each government;
- provided for the return of the remains of war dead and access to war graves on both sides of the line;
- confirmed the teleprinter link between Amsterdam and Washington through the Line House.
It did not establish embassies. Each government kept a liaison office at the Line House.
Aftermath
Licensed trade began in 1976, mostly in grain, machinery and aircraft parts, and grew after the United States ended its emergency government with the Restoration Amendments of 1979. A joint commission for the arbitration of trade disputes was set up in 1994. No peace treaty followed, and the frontier questions remained open until the two powers went to war again in 2022 (see Second World War).
In the Federation the Declaration had no constitutional effect, since the Federal Charter of 1964 had replaced the clause of the Treaty of Prague that tied the Federation's existence to the war.