Biden’s agenda stacked: NORAD, migration deals
President Joe Biden arrives in Canada on Thursday with a focus on several of the world’s largest challenges: the war in Ukraine, climate change, trade, mass migration and an increasingly assertive China.
Two important areas of agreement appear in hand: Canada will escalate its timeline for military upgrades to the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the two nations will reach an agreement on migration, a senior Canadian official told The Associated Press.
The Biden administration has made strengthening its friendship with Canada a priority over the past two years and Biden’s meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the capital of Ottawa are an opportunity to set plans for the future.
National security and air defenses are a priority, with a recent Chinese spy balloon floating over North America putting newfound urgency on Canada’s plans to update its radar systems and recent purchase of F-35 jets. Canada has agreed to an accelerated timeline for spending billions more on military upgrades for NORAD, which monitors the skies above the continent, according to the senior Canadian government
official.
Canada announced last year it is investing $3.8 billion (Canadian $4.9 billion) over the next six years to modernize NORAD radar systems and billions more years later, but David Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, has said the current threat climate calls for earlier investment.
There’s also agreement to close a key loophole that has allowed thousands of migrants to cross into Canada from the U.S. at a nonofficial checkpoint, enabling them to stay in the country as they seek asylum instead of letting the process play out while staying
in the U.S. That’s according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to speak on the record.
A quirk in a 2002 agreement between the U.S. and Canada says people seeking asylum must apply in the first country they arrive in. Migrants who go to an official crossing are returned to the U.S. and told to apply there. But those who arrive in Canada at a location other than a port of entry are allowed to stay and request protection, as has been happening on Roxham Road between Champlain, New York, and Quebec.
More than 39,000 claims were filed in 2022 by people who were intercepted by Canadian police, the vast majority of them in Quebec and at Roxham Road.
As part of the agreement, Canada is expected announce that 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere will be given slots to apply to enter the country, the official said.
The broadened focus of Biden’s visit represents an evolution of a friendship between the two countries that exceeds 150 years. The emphasis had more frequently been on issues like trade that had defined relations
between the two countries, which share a 5,525mile border.
“This visit is about taking stock of what we’ve done, where we are and what we need to prioritize for for the future,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. “We’re going to talk about our two democracies stepping up to meet the challenges of our time.”
There will still be an emphasis on trade, yet Canada and the U.S. see the partnership as crucial in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, reducing their dependence on Chinese goods and shifting toward cleaner energy sources amid the planetary damage caused by burning fossil fuels.
It’s about strengthening air defenses for both countries, tapping critical minerals that will enable the production of electric vehicles, and military and economic commitments at a moment that observers say is the most dangerous since World War II. Chinese President Xi Jinping this week visited Russian President Vladimir Putin, pledging to deepen their economic ties in ways that could help fund Putin’s ongoing war to take Ukraine.