Biden administration stokes frustration over Canada

The Biden administration’s decision to extend border restrictions between the United States and Canada is stoking frustration among members of Congress who represent states and districts that abut the Great White North, including some of the president’s closest allies.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Wednesday it would extend the closure of land borders between the neighboring allies through at least Aug. 21. Its announcement came two days after the Canadian government said it would admit Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus beginning Aug. 9.

The American extension on restrictions came as a surprise to members of Congress who had been pushing to ease the lockdown, several sources on Capitol Hill said. They felt caught off guard by an announcement that is all but certain to doom some businesses that will now lose a second straight summer of cross-border economic activity.

“I’m deeply disappointed in the Biden administration’s decision to unilaterally extend the Canada-U.S. border closure another month. This means further suffering in our border communities in Whatcom County & elsewhere,” Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) wrote on Twitter. 

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who has pushed to reopen the border for months — especially to residents of Point Roberts, Wash., an isolated community whose only access to the mainland is by driving through Canada — called himself “extremely disappointed” in the decision.

Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), who represents Buffalo and Niagara Falls and who co-chairs the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, said in a call with reporters that the Biden administration was misleading Americans.

“Today’s decision by the Biden administration harms economic recovery and hurts families all across America’s northern border; this is completely unnecessary,” Higgins said in a statement. “Continuation of this shutdown is illogical given the success of vaccines and counterproductive, putting the United States at a disadvantage given Canada’s decision to welcome back vaccinated Americans effective August 9th.”

Even Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), one of Biden’s critical allies on Capitol Hill, criticized the administration for “failing to reciprocate” Canada’s reopening gesture.

“It is critical for the United States to level the playing field and create a uniform system, following the science and data, to safely — and finally — reopen the border for those vaccinated,” Schumer said in a statement.

DelBene and several other members of Congress have asked for meetings with the White House to clarify the administration’s position.

The 17-month shutdown of the northern border is the longest in history, outpacing even the shutdown that took place during the War of 1812. And while Canada and the United States ostensibly closed the border in March 2020 through a cooperative agreement, experts said it is becoming increasingly clear that there is little agreement — or even dialogue — a year later.

“For these two great partners who were supposedly operating together in closing the border, they have been operating independently from the beginning,” said Christopher Sands, director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and a professor of Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University. “There’s not a lot of what you would call high level planning on how are we going to ease these restrictions.”

The economic devastation wrought by the lockdown is being felt most in tourism-reliant communities on either side of the border. After the lost summer of 2020, those communities hoped that the new influx of vaccines against the coronavirus, and the pandemic’s North American ebb, would bring relief. 

After a slow start in administering its own vaccines, Canada has raced ahead of the United States. Today, 52 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated against the virus, and another 18 percent are partially vaccinated. In the United States, 48 percent are fully vaccinated and another 7.5 percent have had one shot.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the looser border restrictions on Monday. At the same press conference, Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of public safety, said he had been in contact with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who told him the U.S. was considering its own data.

Asked about loosening border restrictions, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said the United States is following its own data-driven metrics, rather than any kind of reciprocal agreement

“We rely on the guidance of our health and medical experts, not on the actions of other countries,” Psaki told reporters Wednesday aboard Air Force One.

Republicans who represent border districts have put their own pressure on the Biden administration. In a letter to the White House last week, 14 Republicans who hold neighboring districts urged the White House to lift remaining restrictions. 

“President Biden’s decision to unilaterally extend the Canada-U.S. border closure — despite the clear progress our nation has made and Canada’s easing restrictions — represents a failure to lead our country,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) told The Hill. “There is simply no scientific reason to keep our nation shuttered away, and the ramifications this closure has on our border communities and small businesses is causing more long-term damage than he seems to realize.”

The American resistance to reopening the border is becoming a political challenge for Trudeau, who has considered calling elections as early as this fall. Trudeau has generally received high marks for his handling of the pandemic, and his Liberal Party leads recent polls, giving him an opportunity to turn his minority government into a majority.

Canadians largely celebrated Biden’s victory over former President Trump in 2020, and Trudeau greeted Biden warmly at the G-7 summit last month in Cornwall, Britain. But with the border closed for another month, the new American president has robbed his Canadian counterpart of a convenient foil.

“The good thing about Trump was that Trump got blamed for everything,” Sands said. With Biden, “people have expected [Trudeau] to be able to do more.”