The US emerged from the Spanish–American War (1898) as an imperial power with possessions around the globe, and a special interest in the approaches to what in 1914 became the Panama Canal. At the same time, the British Empire was coming under increasing pressure from the growth of the German Empire's economy and navy, and it was cutting back on potential conflicts on its periphery to focus on the rising threat across the North Sea. As part of the process of imperial retrenchment, Britain resolved a border conflict between Canada and Alaska, withdrew its objections to an American-controlled canal in the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty of 1901, and agreed in 1902 to arbitrate a debt collection dispute with Venezuela. Perhaps foreseeing the coming Anglo-German conflict in his old age, Otto von Bismarck remarked in 1898 that the most significant event of the 20th century would be "the fact that the North Americans speak English."