PM Trudeau and Trump to meet at White House

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is emerging as a leader of the liberal global resistance to President Donald Trump, plans to visit Washington Monday for his first face-toface meeting with the newly-inaugurated U.S. leader.

Trump plans to welcome Trudeau at the White House for a bilateral discussion, making Trudeau the third head of state to meet with Trump, following British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Jan. 27 visit and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to visit Wednesday.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau look forward to a constructive conversation on strengthening the relationship between our two nations,” the White House said in a statement.

Canada is one of America’s closest allies as well as its neighbor to the north, but the relationship between the two countries could be tested by Trump’s vow to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which also includes Mexico.

Trudeau, 45, is a progressive leader of Canada who forged a bond with former U.S. president Barack Obama. Trudeau has begun to position himself as a Trump foe on the world stage, delivering indirect but unmistakable criticisms of the new U.S. president’s policies.

After Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning all refugees as well as travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, Trudeau said, “To the more than one million Canadians who profess the Muslim faith, I want to say directly, ‘We are with you.’ ”