US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrated the close and “inseparable” relationship between the United States and Canada on Friday, declaring that the values their nations share have never been more important in a world facing so much agitations as possibilities.
Biden, making his first visit to Canada as president, said the United States is fortunate to have Canada as a neighbor as both countries manage to cope with the rapidly changing global economy, climate change, war in Europe and other problems.
On immigration, Biden and Trudeau took advantage of the visit to announce an agreement aimed at reducing the flow of asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings from the United States to Canada.
The agreement removes a loophole in existing regulations and will allow both countries to turn away asylum seekers who reach their borders. At the same time, Canada announced that 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere will be given turns to apply to enter the country.
Prior to their speeches before the Canadian Parliament, the leaders met privately with high-ranking advisers. In addition to the war in Ukraine and defense spending, the talks also included shared concerns about China’s aggressiveness, and violence and political instability in Haiti.
Trudeau mentioned Beijing’s growing economic power and the need for the United States and Canada to work together to address it. In that regard, Canada announced Friday that it has agreed with IBM to expand domestic research and development and advanced packaging of semiconductors, and plans an investment of up to $250 million to “improve the competitiveness and resilience of the supply chain in North America, help reduce pollution, and promote economic and national security.”
“In the face of increasing competition, including from an increasingly aggressive China, there is no doubt that it is important that we look to each other to strengthen a North American market, in everything from semiconductors to batteries to solar panels,” he said. Trudeau.
In his speech, Biden noted: “Today our destinies are intertwined and inseparable. Not because of the inevitability of geography, but because it’s a choice, a choice we’ve made over and over again.”
“Two people, two countries, who in my opinion share a heart,” he added.
Meetings on Friday also discussed defense spending, an issue that has been in the spotlight after the United States last month shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed parts of Canada and the US mainland.
