TheEconomistAugust 1st 2020 251H
aving beenstopped for most of the
year, Major League Baseball finally
started its diminished 2020 season on July
23rd. For the Toronto Blue Jays, however,
the only Canadian team in the league, re-
starting play was not easy. The Canadian
government refused to let American teams
into the country to play in front of no fans
in Toronto. The risk players will bring co-
vid-19 with them is too high, public-health
officials ruled. That led to a scramble to
find a home in America. For the rest of the
summer, all the Blue Jays’ “home” games
will be just across the border in Buffalo.
Managing the border has dominated re-
lations with the United States since March.
America would like Canada to reopen, but
with covid-19 spreading fast in most Amer-
ican states, Canadians are less keen. Justin
Trudeau, their prime minister, has tried to
avoid confronting Donald Trump. He is
famous for avoiding awkward questions
about the American president. But the pan-
demic is just one of several issues that may
force his hand.
On July 22nd Canada’s federal courtcited the Charter of Rights to throw out the
“safe third-country” deal between Canada
and America on refugees. Since 2004 Cana-
da has been turning back arrivals at land-
border crossings, saying they should have
sought refugee status in the United States
when they first landed there. But under Mr
Trump, America has been jailing those re-
turned by Canada, which the court said vio-
lates Canadian principles of justice. The
court gave the government until January to
make changes (or appeal against the deci-
sion). That means negotiations will persist
throughout the American presidential
election campaign.
It will not be the only problem. America
has also threatened to impose new tariffs
on Canadian aluminium. The next courtdate in the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, a
Huawei executive who is wanted in Ameri-
ca on fraud and sanctions-busting charges,
is in August. Another argument bubbling
away is over Canada’s defence spending:
Mr Trump would like Canada, a fellow
nato member, to spend more.
Yet it is the pandemic that has most
sharply pushed Mr Trudeau into confron-
tation. Canada has coped with covid-19 rel-
atively well, with fewer than 9,000 deaths
among its 38m people. New infections are
up slightly as the country reopens but still
under 400 a day. That contrasts dramatical-
ly with America, where new infection rates
have been rising in 42 out of 50 states.
The border has been closed since
March, and not just to baseball players. Ca-
nadians can return home, and lorry drivers
and some commuters can cross, but most
visitors cannot. Except for essential work-
ers all entrants to Canada are expected to
quarantine for two weeks on arrival.
In June only 64,000 American residents
entered Canada by road, compared with
1.6m a year before, a drop of 96%. Air traffic
fell by 98%. Those numbers have risen
again in recent weeks, but only a bit. Parts
are also moving again between car fac-
tories and the like. But the cost of immobil-
ity is still high. Destination Canada, a tou-
rism-promotion agency, says 40% of all
tourism businesses in Canada may fail; on
the American side they are suffering too.
For that reason the American govern-
ment would like Canada to reopen. The bi-Canada and AmericaNo Canuck do
OTTAWA
The pandemic has strained Canada’s relations with the United StatesThe Americas
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