With an increasingly strained U.S.-Canada relationship under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the head of the U.S. Mission in Ottawa says it is crucial to maintain the “people-to-people” contacts between the countries.

“I personally believe it is completely vital for a bilateral relationship as broad, as deep, as vast and as important as ours is, to maintain people-to-people contacts. We are very closely linked. Our trade relationships are unparalleled,” said U.S. chargé d’affaires Elizabeth Aubin in Toronto on Friday.

“It is very important to communicate and it is very important to have conversations in the areas where we agree and in the areas where we don’t agree. That is how we will understand each other and learn to find common grounds together. And we will look for a win-win to our difficulties.”

The comments by Aubin, who assumed the job of chargé d’affaires following the departure of U.S. ambassador Bruce Heyman in January, came after Trump unleashed a tirade against the North American Free Trade Agreement and singled out Canada as a benefactor of the deal at Americans’ expense. A new ambassador has yet to be named.

“We can’t let Canada, or anybody else, take advantage and do what they did to our workers, to our farmers,” said Trump on Thursday, following an earlier complaint this week about how Canada’s trade practices were threatening the livelihoods of Wisconsin farmers.

In an exclusive interview with the Star, Aubin tried to downplay Trump’s comments, saying the two countries have had conversations about trades since the 1860s and more than 95 per cent of the bilateral trade relationship is “extremely smooth.”

“We only talk about the little things that pop up where we do not have an agreement. So I think the more we talk to each other and interact with each other, the better our relationship will be overall,” said Aubin, who was management officer at the U.S. consulate in Toronto from 2001-04.

“Both of our governments are very aware of our farming industry, our farmers and their particular needs. Both countries are trying to do the best for all types of business, whether it is agriculture or industries or high tech, the full range of our economy. Everyone is trying to do the best they can for their citizens.”

During the 30-minute interview, Aubin also commented on a wide range of immigration-related issues, from the spike of irregular border crossings via the U.S., the Safe Third Country Agreement, the H-1B work visas, the Nexus card program and Bill C-23, the pre-clearance bill that would give U.S. border agents in Canada new powers.

On recent irregular border crossings: “It is a two-way street. Those kinds of things tend to ebb and flow.”

On the Safe Third Country Agreement, which bans refugees from seeking asylum across the border: “It works very effectively. Both governments have indicated they want to continue with the agreement. If you look at the facts of people crossing the northern border irregularly, you will see that most of them are legal in the U.S. If you look at the facts of who is crossing and why they are crossing, it’s perhaps a different story than the assumption or the politicization of the concept.”

On the H-1B work visa, which allows U.S. employers to bring in temporary foreign workers in specialty fields and is widely used in information technology: “A lot of workers who come in on that visa may or may not be paid the same as an American worker. We have to make sure the visa category is being properly used. The impact on Canadians would be minimal.”

On Canadians having problems crossing into the U.S. despite a Nexus card: “Nexus facilitates (travel), but it doesn’t provide a guarantee. People on either side of the border can be stopped and asked further questions. There have been no changes of enforcement of Nexus by either government.”

On Bill C-23 that would expand U.S. border officials’ presence at four Canadian locations, including Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport: “We have had pre-clearance facilities in Canada since the 1950s. The Canadian government has requested the U.S. government to expand pre-clearance . . . Everyone who has passed through has met the U.S. requirement to enter the U.S so your flight can be treated as a domestic flight. So it makes it easier for you to get to your destination.”

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Aubin said she understands public apprehension is inevitable whenever there is a regime change.

However, “we are going to continue to see the kind of flow we had previously. I don’t expect to see a major change to any of that,” she said. “It is interesting to me the level of anxiety and how that has impacted the public space. The actual facts are that fewer Canadians are stopped at the border than ever before.”

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