UPDATED 5:15 P.M.
OTTAWA (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented a united front on Friday against authoritarian regimes as Biden visited the Canadian capital days after the leaders of China and Russia held a Moscow summit.
Images of Biden and Trudeau standing side by side in Ottawa announcing agreements including on semiconductors and migration represented a counter point to the scene in Moscow days ago.
There, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin professed friendship and pledged closer ties as Russia struggles to make gains in what the West considers an unjust invasion of Ukraine.
At a joint news conference with Trudeau, Biden questioned the level of China and Russia’s cooperation, noting that China has not provided weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.
Biden said the U.S. had expanded alliances including with NATO, the G7, South Korea and the Quad nations of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan.
“We have significantly expanded our alliances,” said Biden. “Tell me how in fact you see a circumstance where China has made a significant commitment to Russia. What commitment can they make?”
Addressing Canada‘s parliament, Biden said that, as NATO members, the two countries would “defend every inch of NATO territory.”
Trudeau told the news conference that Ukraine was a top issue.
“Today we reaffirmed our steadfast support for the Ukrainian people as they defend themselves against Putin’s brutal and barbaric invasion,” Trudeau said.
SEMICONDUCTORS, EVS
At the news conference, Trudeau announced the two leaders had signed an agreement with IBM to develop semiconductor capacity and ease reliance on foreign makers after supply-chain problems bedevilled both countries.
The U.S. Defense Production Act will give $250 million, Biden said.
Canada has an abundance of the critical minerals used to produce batteries and electric vehicles (EVs), but China currently dominates the global market.
Trudeau is preparing a budget to be published on Tuesday aimed at scaling up critical mineral and clean tech production.
“With growing competition, including from an increasingly assertive China, there’s no doubt why it matters that we turn to each other now to build up a North American market on everything from semiconductors to solar panel batteries,” Trudeau said.
Biden announced $50 million to incentivize U.S. and Canadian companies to invest in packaging semiconductors and said Canada would provide up to C$250 million ($182 million) for semiconductor projects in the near term, according to a joint statement.
The two countries also agreed on an energy transformation task force focusing on clean power and vowed to cooperate on a “North American critical minerals supply chain,” the statement said.
Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, two Canadian men that China had detained for more than 1,000 days until 2021, attended the speeches. Both leaders addressed the men, who had been at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Beijing.
“They’re not diplomatic leverage. They’re human beings with lives and families that must be respected,” Biden said.
Ahead of their meetings, the two leaders had already struck a deal aimed at stopping asylum seekers from traversing the shared U.S.-Canada land border via unofficial crossings.
“The United States and Canada will work together to discourage unlawful border crossings and fully implement the updated Safe Third Country Agreement,” Biden said of the deal. Canada agreed to take in 1,500 migrants from countries in the “Western Hemisphere” as part of the deal.
($1 = 1.3737 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Andrea Shalal in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto, Ted Hesson and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Writing by Steve Scherer and Steve Holland; Editing by Bradley Perrett, Jonathan Oatis, Heather Timmons and Josie Kao)
——————————————-
OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off meetings in Ottawa on Friday after making a deal aimed at stopping asylum seekers from traversing the shared U.S.-Canada land border via unofficial crossings.
They are expected to discuss migration, the worsening security and humanitarian situation in Haiti, the war in Ukraine, trade and fighting climate change, officials said.
“We have a lot to talk about, and I think we’re going to get a lot done today,” Biden said at the start of the meeting, emphasizing the shared values between the two countries.
“We have no greater friend and ally than the United States,” Trudeau said.
The two leaders met after Trudeau introduced Biden to institutional heads, one of whom – Green Party leader Elizabeth May – gave the president a chocolate bar labelled “PEACE” and made by a Syrian refugee family, Trudeau explained.
The migration deal, according to a final rule set to be published in the U.S. Federal Register, will allow Canada to turn back immigrants at unofficial crossings including Roxham Road, a dirt path between Quebec and New York State that a growing number of migrants use.
Border crossings between the two countries are governed by the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which allows U.S. and Canadian officials to turn back asylum seekers in both directions at formal points of entry, but does not apply to unofficial crossings.
The new deal extends the STCA to the entire border, the longest undefended frontier in the world, for people who claim asylum within 14 days of crossing, according to the notice. It will go into effect at midnight, according to officials from both Canada and the U.S.
The issue had been a growing political headache for Trudeau, whose parliamentary seat is in Quebec. But skeptics point to the difficulty and cost in monitoring such a long border, and how it may harm migrants.
“It’s unworkable. How is a border this length monitored? People will cross undetected. People will cross in a more dangerous way,” said refugee lawyer Maureen Silcoff. “It’s a losing proposition to seal the border.”
As part of the agreement, Canada will take in an additional 15,000 migrants over the next year on a humanitarian basis from the Western Hemisphere, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
“There are more people on the move in the Western Hemisphere (since) World War Two, it’s really staggering, and it’s historic,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told MSNBC on Friday.
Canada will pledge C$100 million ($72.77 million) in aid to Haiti’s police on Friday, a government source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The two countries also pledged greater cooperation on nuclear energy and technology, according to a statement.
Biden will address parliament on Friday after an introduction by Trudeau, and the two leaders will hold a joint news conference afterward.
Two Canadian men that China had detained for more than 1,000 days until 2021 and who were at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Beijing will attend the speech and gala dinner in Ottawa on Friday, a Canadian government source said.
Roxham Road made international headlines in 2017 after then-U.S. President Donald Trump started cracking down on migrants, resulting in a rise of asylum seekers into Canada.
In recent months, there has been a sharp increase in asylum seekers entering Canada through unofficial border crossings.
($1 = 1.3742 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Andrea Shalal in Ottawa, additional reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto, Steve Scherer in Ottawa, and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Writing by Steve Scherer and Steve Holland; Editing by Bradley Perrett, Jonathan Oatis and Josie Kao)
Comments