US President Joe Biden arrived in Canada on Thursday to speak with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on various global challenges: the war in Ukraine, climate change, trade, migration and an increasingly assertive China.

Two major deals already seemed in place even before Biden left Washington. Canada will accelerate its schedule of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) military upgrades and the two countries have agreed to update rules on migrant asylum seekers, according to U.S. officials and Canadians who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to do so. .statements to the press.

The migration agreement eliminates a loophole in current regulations and will allow both countries to reject asylum seekers at the common border. Because of this loophole, thousands of migrants have entered Canada from the United States every year through an unofficial checkpoint, allowing them to stay in the country while they seek asylum, instead of leaving the process to take place on American soil. .

As part of the deal, Canada plans to announce that it will allow 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere to apply to enter the country, according to a Canadian official.

The new policy applies to people who are not US or Canadian citizens and are detained within 14 days of crossing the border between the two countries. Biden and Trudeau did not respond to reporters’ questions about the deal when the president and first lady Jill Biden arrived for a private meeting at the prime minister’s residence.

The White House declined to comment on the deal, which is expected to be officially announced on Friday.

Strengthening relations with Canada has become important to the Biden government over the past two years.

National security and regional air defense are a priority after a Chinese spy balloon drifted over North America last month. Canada plans to upgrade its radar system and has agreed to speed up the period in which it will funnel more billions into military upgrades from NORAD, which monitors the skies above the region, according to a senior Canadian official.

Canada announced last year that it would spend C$4.9 billion (US$3.8 billion) over the next six years to upgrade NORAD radar systems and billions more in the coming years. to come, but David Cohen, the US Ambassador to Canada, noted that the current environment requires more accelerated investment.