You can count on Donald Trump for one thing at least: if there’s a bad situation, he’ll find a way to make it worse.

As the COVID-19 pandemic enters an even more critical phase, the Trump administration is apparently pushing a plan that would waste resources and ramp up the tension at an already tense time for no good purpose.

It emerged on Thursday that the U.S. is looking at placing troops near the border to deter people from sneaking over from Canada and spreading the disease. (Late on Thursday, Washington reportedly dropped the idea in the face of loud objections from the Trudeau government.)

If anything, given the chaotic response to the coronavirus south of the border, it would make more sense for Canada to post soldiers on our side to keep out Americans.

COVID-19 is raging in New York State, and Canadians have more to fear from Americans coming over at Buffalo or Plattsburgh than the U.S. has to fear from Canada.

But posting troops on either side would make no sense at all, certainly not from a public health point of view.

Ever since 9/11 the border has been well-patrolled, on the American side by the U.S. Border Patrol and on the Canadian side by Canadian Border Services. And since last Saturday the border has been closed to all but essential workers and anyone trying to cross between official checkpoints is being turned back.

The border has already been well-secured, in other words, and there’s zero evidence that people sneaking over the border in either direction pose a threat.

The Trudeau government was right to push back hard. Aside from the pointlessness of such a move, it would send a terrible signal about how the United States under Trump views its closest ally, neighbour and trading partner.

Both governments have long boasted that the Canada-U.S. border is the longest demilitarized frontier in the world. It’s a cornerstone of the relationship and a bedrock assumption behind the cross-border exchange that is fundamental to the well-being of both countries (especially Canada).

Even in the aftermath of 9/11, when the U.S. was on maximum alert against outside threats, it did not militarize its northern border. This is no time to break with that long tradition.

The danger is not so much from a short-term military presence. It comes from the real possibility that the U.S. under Trump will turn inwards even more, “thickening” the border even after the pandemic eases up.

As Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland noted on Thursday, a border that is as open as possible is vital to Canada for many reasons. Much of our food and vital medical supplies come across the frontier, just to point out the most obvious.

There’s an even bigger Canada-U.S. conflict looming as the pandemic unfolds.

In Canada, we’re being asked (indeed, told) to accept ever-greater restrictions on our movements in order to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of COVID-19. And we’re being warned this may go on for many weeks, perhaps months.

In Washington, though, President Trump is already agitating to get America open again and “raring to go” by Easter weekend — a little over two weeks from now.

He’s pushing for a more targeted approach: caring for the most vulnerable while allowing most Americans to get back to work. He’s tweeted that he doesn’t want “the cure to be worse than the disease,” that he isn’t willing to put the U.S. economy into deep freeze in the name of stopping a pandemic that he apparently sees as little worse than the common flu.

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If this scenario unfolds, Trump could soon be sending millions back to work, spreading the virus just as Canadians continue to huddle indoors and our economy evaporates. It’s a formula for chaos and maximum suffering.

Yes, a bad situation all round. And Trump determined to make it even worse.

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