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The Canadian government will increase investment in border security after Donald Trump threatened to impose high tariffs on illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the US-Canada border.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canadian provincial leaders late Wednesday to agree on a unified response to the US president-elect’s move. Commitment this week impose a 25% tax on all products from Mexico and Canadawhich he said would remain in place “until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop the invasion of our country.”
After meeting with Trudeau, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said: “We believe there is a possibility that we can make additional investments to reassure Canadians that all necessary measures are in place. applied and will continue to be implemented. he declined to say how much additional money the federal government would provide.
The US-Canada border is the longest in the world, stretching nearly 9,000km both on land and at sea. Security on land is light; there are few walls or fences and in places it is marked by simple stone markers along residential streets. While major road intersections have checkpoints, the border is largely policed by mobile patrols, making the area vulnerable to migrant, drug and arms smugglers .
Washington’s incoming border chief, Tom Homan, said in a television interview earlier this month that “Canada. . . cannot be a gateway for terrorists to come to the United States.” “This is a serious national security vulnerability on the northern border and it is one of the things I will address,” he added.
The number of migrants caught trying to cross the border from Canada to the US increased from 27,180 in 2021 to 198,929 in 2024 – an increase of nearly 600% – according to US Customs and Border Protection data.
Canada’s provincial leaders have criticized what they say is the Ottawa government’s failure to prioritize border security. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday he hopes the meeting with Trudeau will be “the start of a more proactive approach from the federal government” and will show it “takes our border security seriously.” us seriously. . . or take risks the economic chaos of Trump tariffs”.
About 8,500 frontline Canada Border Services Agency employees monitor the Canadian side of the border and monitor goods and services worth nearly C$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) and about 400,000 people pass by every day. But their union says 2,000-3,000 more border officers are needed. “The Union has been vocal about understaffing at the border for years,” said Immigration and Customs Enforcement President Mark Weber.
Despite the criticism, Trump’s concerns about drugs entering the US from Canada are not supported by official data.
Canadian officials admit Mexican drug cartels have moved their operations north as the US tightens control of its southern border. But US border protection figures show agents seized an average of just 800 grams of fentanyl per month at the Canadian border between January 2022 and October 2024, compared with about 821kg of fentanyl per month. months at the Mexican border during the same period.
Canada has its own concerns about border security. Trump has pledged to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants when he takes office early next year, and Canadian officials fear many could head north to avoid being caught by US immigration officials. .
“It is important to secure the border in both directions,” Quebec Premier François Legault, who has been an outspoken critic of border security, said late Wednesday. We don’t want a new wave of immigration, but it’s important that Mr. Trudeau has a plan to reassure Mr. Trump.”
