Canada to boost border security amid Trump tariff threat: What to know

Montreal, Canada – Canada has pledged to bolster information astatine its borderline with the United States, days aft US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose crippling tariffs successful effect to cause trafficking and undocumented migration.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters connected Wednesday evening that his authorities “can marque further investments” astatine the border, without providing factual details.

He besides said Ottawa would enforce greater restrictions to forestall radical from going done Canada to scope the US without permits.

“We’ll proceed to tighten the screws connected that process to marque definite that we proceed to person an migration strategy and borders that successful information enactment the integrity and information that Canadians and Americans enactment connected each day,” LeBlanc said.

The minister’s remarks came aft a gathering successful Ottawa betwixt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial premiers, who person raised concerns and demanded enactment implicit Trump’s tariff threat.

In a societal media station connected Monday, Trump — who takes bureau successful January — warned Canada and Mexico that helium planned to enforce 25-percent tariffs connected imports from some countries “until specified clip arsenic Drugs, successful peculiar Fentanyl, and each amerciable Aliens halt this Invasion of our Country!”

“Both Mexico and Canada person the implicit close and powerfulness to easy lick this agelong simmering problem,” the president-elect added.

While migrant and asylum seeker crossings astatine the US-Mexico border person drawn planetary headlines for years, the concern astatine the US’s bluish borderline with Canada receives acold little attention. Here’s what you request to know.

How galore radical are crossing the US-Canada border?

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered conscionable nether 199,000 “encounters” astatine the borderline with Canada betwixt October 2023 and September of this year.

This includes radical caught entering the US illegally, arsenic good arsenic radical who are deemed inadmissible astatine a larboard of entry.

By comparison, CBP recorded much than 2.13 cardinal encounters astatine the US-Mexico borderline successful that aforesaid period.

What astir cause trafficking?

Drug seizures astatine the borderline person gone down significantly, according to CBP figures.

Between October 2023 and September 2024, astir 5,245kg (11,565 pounds) of drugs — mostly marijuana — were seized by US authorities. That’s down from immoderate 25,000kg (55,101 pounds) seized implicit the aforesaid play a twelvemonth earlier.

What migration rules govern the US-Canada border?

Last year, the US and Canada expanded a decades-old agreement to springiness authorities the powerfulness to instantly expel asylum seekers who transverse the nations’ shared borderline astatine unofficial points of entry.

Since 2004, the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) has forced asylum seekers to use for extortion successful the archetypal state they arrived successful — the US oregon Canada, but not both.

But a loophole had allowed radical to question extortion if they reached Canadian soil. Thousands of asylum seekers crossed into Canada during Trump’s archetypal word successful bureau amid a question of anti-immigrant policies.

Now, the STCA applies to the entirety of the US-Canada onshore border, which stretches 6,416km (3,987 miles), and radical tin beryllium turned backmost betwixt ports of entry.

A enactment of asylum seekers hold to transverse the borderline into Canada adjacent Champlain, New York successful 2017 [File: Geoff Robins/AFP]

Who is trying to get into the US via Canada?

In caller months, arsenic the rules governing the borderline tightened, citizens of countries that bash not necessitate visas to question to Canada person utilized the state arsenic a jumping-off constituent to effort to scope the United States.

Last year, media outlets reported that US President Joe Biden’s medication had asked Canada to enforce visa requirements for Mexican nationals amid an summation successful crossings astatine the bluish border.

Ottawa reimposed the visa measures successful February successful effect to what it said was a spike successful asylum claims from Mexican citizens.

Meanwhile, asylum seekers who person had their extortion claims rejected by Canada person besides sought to transverse into the US successful caller years — sometimes with the assistance of quality smugglers, and sometimes with deadly results.

In 2023, a family that had their asylum assertion rejected successful Canada drowned portion trying to transverse into the US by boat. They were facing deportation to their autochthonal Romania. Their bodies were recovered successful the St Lawrence River.

In January 2022, a family from India besides froze to death successful Manitoba — a state successful cardinal Canada — aft they tried reaching the US connected ft during freezing wintertime weather.

So does the concern truly merit Trump’s tariffs threat?

That depends connected who you’re asking.

Both American and Canadian lawmakers person urged their respective governments to bash much to code the concern astatine the border.

For example, successful September, a bipartisan radical of US senators enactment guardant authorities to “strengthen security” astatine the borderline with Canada. The measure would necessitate the Department of Homeland Security to behaviour a “Northern Border Threat Analysis” and update its strategy there.

“The threats astatine our Northern borderline are perpetually evolving, and truthful excessively indispensable our strategy to combat these threats,” Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat who co-sponsored the measure, said successful a statement. Her state, New Hampshire, sits connected the border.

“This bipartisan measure volition fortify instrumentality enforcement’s efforts to halt the transnational transgression organizations that are flooding our streets with fentanyl and different deadly drugs.”

What person Canadian politicians said?

While astir Canadian politicians person pushed backmost against the imaginable of Trump’s 25-percent tariffs — saying specified a determination would incur occupation losses and spark an economical downturn — a radical of right-wing premiers person argued the US president-elect raises “valid” concerns astir the border.

“The national authorities needs to instrumentality the concern astatine our borderline seriously,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said successful a societal media post this week. He has called connected Canada to enforce retaliatory tariffs against the US should Trump determination guardant with his plans.

Francois Legault, the right-wing premier of Quebec who has urged a harsher borderline crackdown amid an influx of asylum seekers into the French-speaking province, said helium requested a “detailed plan” from the national authorities “to amended unafraid the borders”.

“That would bounds amerciable entries into Quebec and debar Mr Trump’s 25% tariffs,” Legault wrote connected X. Last month, helium besides suggested Canada should forcibly transportation tens of thousands of asylum seekers retired of Quebec to different parts of the country.

The unit connected Trudeau, who has been successful powerfulness since 2015, comes arsenic the Canadian premier curate has seen his popularity plummet amid a lodging situation and soaring costs of living.

Recent polls amusement his Liberals trailing acold down the absorption Conservative Party up of a national predetermination that indispensable beryllium held earlier precocious October 2025.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has seized connected the borderline contented to criticise the premier minister. “Justin Trudeau broke the border,” Poilievre told reporters connected Thursday. “All the chaos astatine our borderline is the effect of Justin Trudeau.”

Trudeau faces slumping canvass numbers earlier an predetermination acceptable to instrumentality spot earlier precocious October adjacent twelvemonth [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]

What person quality rights advocates said?

Julia Sande, quality rights instrumentality and argumentation campaigner astatine Amnesty International Canada, said the US president-elect’s comments this week astir the US-Canada borderline were “intentionally vague” and unclear.

“There’s notation of radical crossing the border. Are we talking astir asylum seekers? He talks astir amerciable activities; obviously, crossing to question asylum is not illegal,” Sande told Al Jazeera.

“And it’s due to the fact that of the Safe Third Country Agreement that radical are forced to transverse betwixt ports of introduction to question safety,” she added.

“It’s 1 happening if we’re talking astir the travel of drugs, but erstwhile it includes radical and you’re utilizing words similar ‘illegal aliens’, I would anticipation that politicians would propulsion backmost against that.”

Alex Neve, a prof of planetary quality rights instrumentality astatine the University of Ottawa, besides said it was “deeply troubling” to spot Canadian leaders “falling successful enactment with Trump’s inflamed, bullying communicative astir the border”.

“Suddenly precedence fig 1 successful Canada is ‘safeguarding’ the Canada/US border, due to the fact that Donald Trump has said it indispensable beryllium so. Doesn’t look to substance that the numbers don’t adjacent remotely carnivore retired his hateful fearmongering,” Neve wrote connected societal media.

“This hyperbolic speech of hordes of amerciable migrants, progressively spouted by governments astir the world, inevitably bodes sick for refugees and migrants, with genuinely beingness and decease consequences, and buying into it makes america portion of the problem.”