Joe Biden is continuing Donald Trump's vaccine protectionism. Canada can't get doses from Pfizer and Moderna's U.S. plants, even as the supply from Europe slows to a trickle. One reason for Canada's vaccine shortage: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-biden-upholds-us-first-vaccine-policy-shutting-door-on-canada-for-now/

This is the North American version of a similar situation playing out in Europe, where the EU wants AstraZeneca doses produced at plants in the UK

But while in Europe, this has become a major political issue, in Canada and the U.S., it's flown relatively under the radar

One weirdness: Pfizer told the Globe back in November that Canada would be getting doses from the company's Michigan plant, even after Pfizer's deal with the U.S. But that quietly changed in January, and Canada is supplied only from Belgium

Another weirdness: the Trudeau government has refused to say whether they have directly asked the Biden administration to let Canada get doses from Pfizer and Moderna's U.S. plants

Readouts of Trudeau's calls with Biden and Harris strongly imply that he did make such a request. They say he raised "collaboration on vaccines" with Biden and "access to vaccines" with Harris

But the PMO and the Canadian embassy in DC have either stonewalled or not responded when the Globe asked specifically whether the Trudeau government has requested access to U.S.-made vaccines

The most charitable explanation is that they did ask, got a non-committal response and are trying to play it cool while they work to persuade Biden and his people

It's also possible that they asked, got turned down, and don't want to admit that cos it's embarrassing. Or for some reason, they *didn't* ask, but don't want to say so cos Canadians would expect their government to try every avenue to secure a vaccine supply

Either way: so far, the Biden administration isn't proving the panacea for Canada/U.S. tensions that the Trudeau government may have hoped. The world's largest economy is always going to pull rank on its one-tenth-the-size neighbour

I feel like the kicker here is that both U.S. plants are in border states -- Michigan and New Hampshire -- each less than a half-day's drive from one of Canada's two largest cities