WASHINGTON – The 5,525-mile U.S.-Canadian border has been closed to nonessential travel for the last 11 months thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic – but that fact barely rated a mention in the two joint appearances that President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made Tuesday before and after their two-and-a-half-hour virtual summit.
Instead, the two leaders bemoaned the pandemic, vowed to rebuild their respective economies and fight climate change and otherwise left residents of border communities such as Buffalo and Fort Erie wondering when and how the border travel restrictions will be loosened or lifted.
Terming the meeting "very productive," Biden said: "Getting Covid under control at home and around the world is the immediate priority ... We've also agreed to work in close cooperation to strengthen the supply chain security and resilience, and to ensure that Canada and the United States are driving a robust economic recovery that benefits everyone, not just those at the top."
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Trudeau agreed, saying: "Job one remains keeping people safe and ending this pandemic. This afternoon, the President and I discussed collaboration to beat Covid-19, from keeping key supplies moving and supporting science and research to joint efforts through international institutions."
Biden mentioned the border just once, noting that the two nations will re-establish their cross-border crime forum.
Trudeau, meanwhile, referred to the closed border only in his remarks in French, saying: "As for Covid-19, we also talked of our strict measures concerning trips in order to protect people on both sides of the border. However, even if our most important priority is to secure people safety, we must also think of our future."
In English, Trudeau also mentioned that the Canadian energy industry powers homes on both sides of the border.
For Western New Yorkers who have owned second homes in Canada for years, if not generations, the border shutdown still breeds uncertainty.
Neither discussed Biden's Jan. 21 executive order calling for diplomatic consultations with Canada and Mexico and development of a new border health protocols by Feb. 4.
The lack of any news about the border closure will come as a disappointment to the thousands of members of Let Us Reunite, a group with loved ones stuck on the other side of the border. The group had been hoping that at the least, Biden would announce that the United States would adopt Canada's slightly more open rules for allowing families to cross the border for visits.
But the lack of any such developments out of Tuesday's summit does not mean that there will be no such news this week. On Monday, a senior Biden administration official said: "We have an entire week's worth of Canada planned out for you."
That being the case, Rep. Brian Higgins – a Buffalo Democrat who has been pushing to reopen the border – said he remained hopeful, despite the lack of movement on the issue Tuesday.
"That doesn't mean things aren't moving," Higgins said, adding that he hopes for a partial border reopening by Memorial Day and a full reopening by July 4.
"I remember those first weeks thinking: OK, well, we'll just give it a couple of weeks, and it's going to be OK; this can't last that long," Elizabeth Switzer said. "And then it just kept going and going and going."
Biden and Trudeau began their summit with a brief introduction, and ended with a joint statement, without taking questions from the media.
"The United States has no closer friend – no closer friend – than Canada," Biden said before the summit. "We have a robust agenda today and we're all best served when the United States and Canada work together and lead together."
Trudeau agreed, saying: "As we move forward there's a lot to rebuild."
