Canada has reportedly proposed creating a joint "strike force" with US law enforcement officials to patrol the Canada-US border in an effort to stop transnational organized crime.
The move would serve the dual benefit of not only reducing crime, but also — potentially — convincing President-elect Donald Trump to drop his planned tariffs against Canada.
Politico reported that Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and its Foreign Affairs Minster Melanie Joly spoke with Trump's incoming "border czar" Tom Homan in a phone call on Monday. The discussion occurred on the same day that Canada announced its $1.3bn border security package.
“It’s an important step to show Canadians and our American partners that we share their concern around border security and border integrity. We have taken note of President Trump’s comments,” LeBlanc said.
The move comes a day after Chrystia Freeland, Canada's finance minister, resigned from her position. She sent a resignation letter to Ottawa warning Canadian leaders that the way they choose to deal with — or appease — Trump would "define us for a generation, and perhaps longer."
Her resignation follows Trump’s decision to insult Canada and Canadians by referring to Canadian President Justin Trudeau, as the “governor” of the “great state of Canada,” suggesting the nation is little more than another territory under US control.
Canada's recently-passed package will see new surveillance towers built along the US-Canada border, and will provide Canada's Border Services Agency with more helicopters, drones, and staff.
On top of bulking up their border security staff and their equipment, the package also gives border agents the power to inspect exports, a move reportedly taken to crack down on Canada-produced fentanyl from crossing the border into the US.
Trump has demanded that Canada and Mexico do more to stop fentanyl and illegal migrants from crossing into the US, and has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff otherwise. While it seems Canada is working to play ball with Trump, Mexico's newly-elected President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo told Trump that before the US can make any demands, it needs to work to stop US guns from entering Mexico and contributing to the already horrific cartel violence plaguing the country.
Sheinbaum pledged on Wednesday to help Mexican immigrants living in the US if — and more likely when — Trump begins crackdowns on immigrants once he returns to the Oval Office in January.
“We send you a warm greeting, our recognition. Our immigrant brothers and sisters in the Untied States are heroes who have succeeded with courage, and we will not only recognize you always but also support you. And know that your home is here, always,” she told a crowd in El Paso, Texas.
Back in Canada, the nation's ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, noted that despite the nation's willingness to work to curb fentanyl exports, very few fentanyl seizures and very few immigrants actually cross into the US from the north.
According to Hillman, fewer than 1 percent of illegal crossings and fewer than 0.2 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred at Canada's border with the US.
