OTTAWA: US President Joe Biden on Friday met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau amid reports that an agreement has been struck on managing undocumented migration across the neighbors’ long border.
Greeting Justin Trudeau at Parliament Hill in Ottawa before addressing Canadian parliamentarians, Biden told his counterpart, “we are lucky, we have Canada at our north, and despite some disagreements, “there is no fundamental difference in the democratic values both sides share.”
Trudeau said Canada has “no nearest friend and ally than the US” — a message underlined in the gift to Joe Biden of a chocolate bar prepared by Peace by Chocolate, a brand started by Syria’s refugees.
Trade, Canada’s bloodless defense spending, and a potential global force to stabilize troubled Haiti were expected to top the agenda.
There is also likely to be progress on another hot issue with an agreement to clamp down on undocumented migration by asylum seekers passing through the United States into Canada.
Biden, Trudeau to discuss crucial issues
According to US and Canadian media, Canada can turn back illegal migrants at the Roxham Road crossing point on the frontier between Quebec and New York state.
The reports stated that Canada has agreed in return to take in around 15,000 asylum seekers from Latin America via legal channels, a move that will ease the pressure on the US southern border. Radio-Canada reported that the agreement would take effect Saturday.
Another item expected to be discussed is the financing of the neighbors’ mutual defense agreements, both as members of NATO and their joint air defense system for North America, named NORAD.
The United States government has been pressuring Canada to surge its defense spending, which was just 1.33 percent of GDP in 2022. This is scheduled to increase to 1.59 percent from 2026, but that is still well below the NATO alliance requirement of a minimum 2 percent of GDP spending.
