Bilateral Issues to be Prioritized at Biden-Trudeau Summit in Ottawa
Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman.
After several meetings at summits dedicated to international issues, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and United States President Joe Biden will tackle bilateral issues during the White House tenant's first visit to Canadian territory this week. .
We have to work on the changes that are happening in our economy as a result of what we have learned with the COVID pandemic and with the upheavals we have had in the global economy with the invasion from Russia to Ukraine,” Canada's Ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, said in an interview on Behind the Scenes of Power.
President Joe Biden's visit to Ottawa next Thursday comes more than two years after his arrival in the White House, while tradition dictates that it will occur shortly after taking office. The pandemic will have got the better of this custom.
President Joe Biden has previously met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Mexico City. (File photo)
During their one-on-one meetings, Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau will discuss trade, security, the environment and irregular migration.
Canada has been negotiating for months with Washington to renew the Safe Third Country Agreement to allow Canadian authorities to turn back asylum seekers who come to Canada through irregular ports of entry at the land border. However, the discussions are dragging on.
In February, the United States Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, argued that the renegotiation of this agreement would not; was not a priority for Washington.
The conversation that we are going to have and that we already have but which will continue, of course, between our heads of state, is: what is happening in the hemisphere? ? How can we give support to these people who are in crisis? said the representative of Canada in Washington.
The United States welcomed two million migrants in 2022 at its border with Mexico, while around 110,000 interceptions were made by American customs officers near the Canadian border. This issue is therefore not nearly as pressing for Washington, even if, according to Ms. Hillman, the American authorities are listening to Canada's grievances.
As of 2017, Roxham Road has been the preferred location for refugee claimants to enter Canada. (File photo)
If no agreement is assured with regard to Roxham Road, Justin Trudeau still hopes to settle a few issues. The prime minister needs some good news to offer Canadians, having been under attack for weeks from opposition parties over what he knew about China's attempts to interfere in Canada's electoral process. These suspicions undermined his popularity in voter polls in favor of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The passage by the United States Congress of the Inflation Reduction Act, a law which provides for investments of 370 billion dollars over 10 years in the energy transition, raises fears of the loss of investments in the country.
Last Monday, Canada announced that it had successfully attracted German manufacturer Volkswagen's first North American battery manufacturing plant to Ontario. However, the lure of generous US subsidies may increase competition.
In this regard, Ms. Hillman believes that Canada is well positioned to remain competitive. Of course we have the critical minerals. We have had experience in this for a long time. And we have a workforce that is really very experienced.
The ambassador recalled that the demand for clean energy and green technologies far exceeds the supply. All countries need to undertake an energy transition and achieve it as quickly as possible to tackle climate change, Hillman said.
