Late last year, President Joe Biden’s administration was facing a border problem – and it wasn’t just on America’s frontier with Mexico.
Thousands of Mexican citizens were taking advantage of visa-free travel to fly to Canada and then try to cross into the U.S. by heading south.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came under pressure from American officials and local politicians to reinstate the visa requirements he ended in 2016. Critics wanted immediate action, but Trudeau’s government moved delicately, taking time to meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration and in February ultimately reimposing the demand for only about 40% of arrivals.
The careful maneuvering was more than just standard diplomacy. Senior officials in Trudeau’s government worried it would be terrible timing to start a fight with Mexico, according to people familiar with the matter. Within a year, their thinking went, Donald Trump could win another term in the White House, potentially reigniting a continent-wide battle over tariffs and trade. Canada and Mexico would need to present a united front.
In this case, Trudeau appears to have navigated the issue successfully, cutting down on arrivals without tanking relations with Mexico. But the far bigger challenge may still be to come.
As Americans head to the polls in November, concern is building in Ottawa and Mexico City that the next U.S. administration may move to…
