Requiring passports for re-entry into the United States after regional travel to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean is a bother, but a tolerable one.

Nations have the right to control their borders. If the point were ever in doubt, the discussion ended Sept. 11, 2001, for most Americans. The requirement will be phased in, first for air travelers and then by 2008 for anyone crossing the long borders by land.

The flip side, of course, is that our neighbors will be expected to have secure identification as well. If Canadians were inclined to be annoyed or insulted, their indignation was neatly trumped by a preemptive snit, a perfectly timed tantrum from a Canadian official.

On the same day U.S. intentions were announced, Canada's federal auditor-general, Sheila Fraser, went ballistic about the shabby state of Passport Canada and its role in border security.

Fraser laid it on thick about the sorrowful state of criminal-record checks and incomplete watch lists. Officials of Canada's passport agency, a part of the foreign-affairs department, calmly responded that the most grievous problems were being addressed.

All the subsequent talk was about how to make a decent working relationship continue for both sides. Cooperation is essential and indicated. Something on the order of 80 percent of Canada's export market is to the U.S.

The numbers back and forth across the border are huge, with 1.2 million crossing at Blaine in the last quarter of 2004. Requiring travelers to have uniform pieces of ID may speed up lines on both sides.

Passports are not inexpensive to obtain, but they are valid for 10 years. If the U.S. government is going to require the document, it falls to the State Department to make the application process as predictable and user-friendly as possible.