Summit ‘road map’ avoids potholes
BIDEN ‘MEETS’ PM
WASHINGTON • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cheered Joe Biden’s climate change plan with equal measures of enthusiasm and relief Tuesday as the pair met, albeit virtually, for the first time since the presidential election.
It was the U.S. president’s first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader since last month’s inauguration — further evidence, he said, of the deep friendship and lasting ties between the two countries.
“The United States has no closer friend than Canada,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room in the White House, where he was flanked by Vice-president Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The sooner we get this pandemic under control, the better, and I look forward to seeing you in person in the future.”
In Ottawa, Trudeau was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, with Biden, Harris and members of his cabinet projected on a bigscreen TV.
After the obligatory jokes about the challenges of learning French — “Every time I tried to speak it, I made such a fool out of myself,” Biden was heard to say — the group got down to business.
The substantive part of the meeting was not expected to be quite as cordial.
A White House “road map” for the bilateral partnership issued earlier Tuesday largely steered clear of potential Canadian potholes, focusing instead on areas of “shared vision” and “mutual concern.”
The six priority areas included battling the pandemic, rebuilding the economy “on both sides of the border,” and a “high-level climate ministerial” meeting to align efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
It also mentioned social diversity and inclusion, expanded co-operation on continental defence and a modernized Norad, and restoring a collective commitment to global institutions like NATO and the World Trade Organization.
A number of Canada’s explicit priorities, however — including access to COVID-19 vaccines, freeing Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig from China or securing an exemption to Buy American — were conspicuously absent.
So, too, was any mention of Keystone XL, the onagain, off-again cross-border pipeline expansion project that Biden cancelled with the stroke of his presidential pen on his very first day in office.
Eric Miller, a Canada-u.s. expert and president of the D.c.-based Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, said the synchronicity between the two leaders is why Trudeau needs to seize the moment.
The two governments have aligned interests on climate change, a multilateral foreign policy and on finding a new approach to dealing with China.