Canada, U.S. hoping for progress on border issue

• Canada hopes to cement progress on keeping the border open to trade and travellers when Justin Trudeau visits Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose controversial travel ban measures recently created considerable confusion at the 49th parallel.

The two countries have been pecking away for years at a list of measures intended to bolster continental security while ensuring the speedy flow of goods and people across the border.

During his first year in office, Trudeau built on efforts by predecessor Stephen Harper to implement programs set out in the December 2011 Beyond the Border agreement forged by Ottawa and Washington.

The new U. S. president’s strong emphasis on homeland security and extreme vetting of newcomers — spelled out in an executive order on immigration — caught many in Canada off guard and resulted in the cancellation of 200 Nexus trusted-traveller cards held by Canadian permanent residents.

The cards have since been reinstated, but the outcome remains unclear pending court decisions.

Canada is expected to seek assurances from the U.S. on a willingness to work together in a way that avoids such unpleasant hiccups, and keeps mutual projects on track, in the months and years ahead.

“We’re going to talk about all sorts of things we align on, like jobs and economic growth, opportunities for the middle class — the fact that millions of good jobs on both sides of our border depend on the smooth flow of goods and services across that border,” Trudeau said Friday.

“We’re also, I’m sure, going to talk about things ... we disagree on, and we’ll do it in a respectful way.”

The two countries announced last March they would proceed with customs pre- clearance initiatives aimed at making border processing easier for low- risk travellers. Canada is keen to come away from Monday’s visit with confirmation of those plans from the Trump administration.

The pre-clearance arrangements would increase the American customs presence on Canadian soil and are expected to see Canada eventually establish similar operations in the United States.

Currently, passengers flying to American cities through eight major Canadian airports can be precleared there by U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

Pre- clearance would be expanded to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in Toronto and Quebec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport, as well as for rail service in Montreal and Vancouver.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said that during her recent meetings in Washington she stressed making trade easier with Canada, including extending pre- clearance for product shipments.

“Our conversations focused on ways to make that border thinner,” she said.

“We talked about preclearance for cargo as an area that we might want to be working on, going forward.”

MILLIONS OF GOOD JOBS ... DEPEND ON THE SMOOTH FLOW OF GOODS AND SERVICES.