Federal in the American sense is a bit of a false friend for Germans: It means basically the same, but Americans use it to signify the unity of the states, whil

Federal in the American sense is a bit of a false friend for Germans: It means basically the same, but Americans use it to signify the unity of the states, while Germans talk about the states of the Union. So if we say federal borders we actually mean state borders and would otherwise say national or country borders.