Biden, Trudeau meet for first summit in Canada
OTTAWA, Ontario — President Joe Biden praised the economic and military connections between Canada and the United States as well as their strong support for Ukraine in a speech to Canada’s Parliament on Friday, in his first official visit to the country since taking the Oval Office.
He also announced that the two countries had reached a new agreement to confront a surge of migrants at their borders, a change that will see Canada accepting 15,000 asylum-seekers from the Americas.
“Our destinies are intertwined and they’re inseparable, not because of inevitability of geography, but because it’s a choice — a choice we made again and again,” Biden said in an address frequently interrupted by applause. “The United States chooses to link our future with Canada because we know that we’ll find no better partner.”
The meeting showcased the new tone in the relationship between the two allies, following the presidency of Donald Trump.
The day of official meetings, speeches and a news conference was to conclude with a gala before the president returned to Washington on Friday night. Biden’s visit was delayed nearly two years, in part because of the pandemic at the start of his term.
There was a widespread sense of relief in Canada when Biden succeeded Trump, a president who belittled Trudeau and whose trade policies threatened Canada’s economy and diminished goodwill toward the United States.
Still, Biden and Trudeau were expected to discuss some areas of potential tension, including America’s wish for Canada to spend more on defense and the question of whether Trudeau will agree to lead an international force to help stabilize Haiti, the troubled Caribbean nation where gangs have unleashed a wave of terror.
The migration agreement, announced by the two leaders Friday afternoon, is expected to ease one area of potential disagreement as both Biden and Trudeau face increasing pressure to deal with unlawful immigration.
But after the tumultuous Trump years, which led to tariffs on key Canadian industries, divided the nations on international relations and threatened the continental free trade agreement that is the backbone of Canada’s economy, officials emphasized that the meeting will be more about showing how much Biden, Trudeau and their countries have in common.
In a joint statement issued after Biden’s speech, the two leaders pledged to cooperate on the pursuit of clean energy and critical minerals, protect the Arctic, condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and confront China’s expanding influence.
“We condemn Russia for its illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war against Ukraine, and will continue imposing economic costs on Russia, while maintaining our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the statement said.
Biden is generally aligned with Trudeau on climate change and other environmental issues — a keystone of the prime minister’s political agenda. The two leaders are critical of China and firm supporters of Ukraine. And, while it will go unspoken publicly at least, Trudeau’s progressive politics share more in common with Democrats than Republicans.
A survey by Abacus Data, a public opinion polling firm based in Ottawa, found Canadians almost evenly divided between those who have a positive view of Biden, those with a negative view and those with no opinion at all about the president. That is in stark contrast to opinions about Trump, who was overwhelmingly unpopular in Canadian polling, and to opinions about Obama, who was more popular than any Canadian politician in polls.
For Biden, the short summit was another opportunity to put on display his efforts to rally the international community behind global issues, again using the power of the United States to confront challenges that straddle borders.
The migration deal reached by the two countries is one example. People in countries across the hemisphere are being increasingly displaced from their homes, reshaping global patterns of migration and putting pressure on countries like the United States and Canada.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told American reporters this week that Biden and Trudeau had been discussing the issue — and trying to resolve disagreements — for months.
“Issues of migration — we are well aware of Canadian concerns,” Kirby said. “We have concerns of our own. And — I mean, it’s a shared hemisphere, a shared regional challenge.”
Biden’s speech to Parliament was also an opportunity to highlight his efforts to build a global coalition to stand with Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and express gratitude for Canada’s enthusiastic participation in that effort.