Canada Proposes Joint Police Force With Us To Tackle Trump’s Border Concerns

OTTAWA — Ottawa says it wants to create a joint “strike force” at the Canada-U.S. border to target transnational organized crime — a shared initiative with the added goal of convincing President-elect Donald Trump to drop his tariff threat.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly discussed details of the plan with Trump “border czar” Tom Homan during a phone call Monday — the same day Canada announced a C$1.3 billion border security package.

“It’s an important step to show Canadians and our American partners that we share their concern around border security and border integrity. We have taken note of President Trump’s comments,” LeBlanc said, adding there’s “a lot of work to do.”

The proposed force would be made up of U.S. and Canadian law enforcement, LeBlanc's office said.

Canada’s border plan was presented Tuesday, a day after Chrystia Freeland stepped down as Canada’s finance minister, warning in her resignation letter that how Ottawa deals with Trump “will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer.”

There is talk of more conversations between the Trump team and the Trudeau ministers over border security in the coming weeks, LeBlanc said.

Canada’s new border plan includes building surveillance towers along the Canada-U.S. border to provide around-the-clock surveillance. There are also plans to arm the Canada Border Services Agency with more helicopters, drones and workers.

The agency will receive new powers that allow it to inspect exports in an effort to crack down on the production of fentanyl from within Canada.

In the coming weeks, LeBlanc is expected to review the plan with Homan and Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend of Trump and chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Lutnick has been tasked with setting the first 100 days of Trump’s trade and tariff agenda. He and LeBlanc met at Mar-a-Lago, alongside Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where they discussed securing the southern border from crime and illegal immigration.

Trump has promised that unless Canada and Mexico can get control over migration and fentanyl, he plans to slap each country with a 25 percent tariff.

Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman has argued that fewer than 1 percent of illegal crossings into the United States and 0.2 percent of fentanyl seizures were at the Canadian border.