Biden discusses trade, migration challenges in Canada

OTTAWA: US President Joe Biden was set to meet on Friday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and address Canada´s parliament, amid reports that a deal has been struck on managing undocumented migration across the neighbors´ long border.

Trade, Canada´s anemic defense spending, and a potential international force to stabilize troubled Haiti were expected to headline the agenda. As Biden flew from Washington late on Thursday, there were reports that another hot button issue in the otherwise smooth relationship had been resolved through a deal to clamp down on undocumented migration by asylum seekers passing through the United States into Canada.

According to The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, Canada will be able to stop illegal migrants at the Roxham Road crossing point on the frontier between New York state and Quebec.

The flow of migrants there has been a source of irritation in Canadian domestic politics, much as it is in Washington concerning illegal entries across the US-Mexico border. The reports said that Canada has agreed in return to take in some 15,000 asylum seekers from Latin America through legal channels, a move that will ease the pressure on the southern US border. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not confirm the news but said “we will hear more about it from the president and the prime minister.”