Trudeau, Biden meeting today
Justin Trudeau and new U.S. President Joe Biden are holding their first official meeting today
This will be Biden’s first bilateral meeting with another world leader. In the past, new presidents have made Canada their first foreign trip, so Biden is keeping with that tradition in spirit, but making the visit virtual in deference to the ongoing pandemic.
Trudeau and Biden have spoken twice on the phone since he was elected in November, but today’s meeting will be longer and more substantial than a phone chat.
The two will meet on their own for one portion of the session and then be joined by other cabinet members for a wider discussion.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will likely take part in the broader discussion, but the entire list of participants had not yet been finally determined by the PMO.
Three big themes are on the agenda, PMO sources say: COVID, the economy and climate change. All three of the discussions will revolve around where Canada and the U.S. can co-operate in the weeks and months ahead. Biden is holding his own leaders’ summit on climate change in April.
Canada had been pushing hard for Biden to put this country at the head of the line for summit meetings. Trudeau was the first foreign leader Biden called after his victory and his inauguration.
The two last met in person at the end of 2016, when Biden paid a call on Ottawa and urged Trudeau to carry the progressive torch internationally after the departure of the Barack Obama administration.
In a recent interview with the Toronto Star, Trudeau said the new Biden administration feels like a “dam breaking” for Canada-U.S. relations, often troubled and tense during Donald Trump’s time in office.
The prime minister said he would be using every opportunity with Biden to press the special nature of the Canada-U.S. relationship.
“Canada can and should be in a very different and distinct category of relations,” Trudeau said.
“Because of that proximity on so many different levels, not just geographic, it’s also easier for unintended consequences to swipe the legs out from under us because of the differences in scale and magnitude.”
The two leaders took part in a virtual G-7 summit and the announcement of their planned meeting came the next day.
The White House announcement said, “The meeting will be an opportunity for the two leaders to review joint efforts in areas of mutual interest such as the COVID19 response, climate change, and the economic ties that bind our countries, as well as the deep people-to-people bonds we share.”
The prime minister’s press release said the two leaders would discuss “their shared vision for a strong economic recovery, growing the middle class and creating jobs, maintaining strong supply chains, climate change, our bilateral energy relationship, defence and security, and promoting diversity and inclusion.”