(Steve Straub) Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought on Tuesday to move forward from the Trump era, stressing the countries’ deep ties and pledging to work together on COVID-19 and climate change in their first bilateral meeting.
Related The New York Times Calls out Justin Trudeau for Inaction on Pornhub, Sex Trafficking
Source – The Federalist Papers
by Steve Straub, February, 2021
“The United States has no closer friend, no closer friend than Canada,” Biden told Trudeau via an electronic video link with the Canadian leader and top aides. “That’s why you were my first call as president (and) my first bilateral meeting,” he said.
The two leaders “robust” agenda would address the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery, climate change, refugees and migration, fighting for democratic values around the globe and strengthening democracies at home, Biden said.
Trudeau welcomed the Biden administration, citing in particular Washington’s renewed attention to climate change in contrast to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Thank you, again, for stepping up in such a big way on tackling climate change. U.S. leadership has been sorely missed over the past years,” the Canadian leader said.
Canada has often been a U.S. president’s first foreign stop, but the COVID-19 pandemic turned the sit-down between the two leaders and some of their top deputies into a virtual affair.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other officials, all wearing dark masks, sat at a long table in a White House meeting room, near a large video screen beaming in Trudeau’s image from Ottawa.
It was not clear the meeting would result in any new deal on issues including Canada’s access to vaccines produced in the United States or a shared standoff with China over the detention of a Huawei executive.
It is expected to yield a shared document outlining cross-government collaboration on a wide range of issues, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters.
Biden irritated Ottawa shortly after taking office on Jan. 20 by blocking the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline project to pump oil sands crude from Alberta to Nebraska, and proposing a “Buy American” program aimed at directing more U.S. spending toward domestic manufacturers.
Trudeau was the first world leader to congratulate Biden when the Democrat was declared the winner of the November election, illustrating the degree to which the close U.S. ally looks to move on from Trump’s four years in office.
The Republican former president, who often clashed with traditional allies on trade, imposed tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel. He traveled only once to Canada for a G7 meeting in 2018, and blasted Trudeau for being “very dishonest and weak” after he left.
Trump also forced the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, talks that consumed Trudeau’s government for years.
Tuesday’s session began with a 45-minute meeting between Biden, Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and their Canadian counterparts.
An expanded meeting following that was expected to include a broader set of officials. Trudeau was accompanied by his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, and others. Biden and Trudeau planned to address the public around 5:45 p.m. (2245 GMT).
The U.S. official signaled little willingness to expand Canada’s access to vaccines manufactured in the United States, saying Washington’s focus is on vaccinating Americans.
The official said the White House expected Trudeau to raise the issue of two Canadians detained by Beijing and charged with espionage after Canada’s detention of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd , on a U.S. arrest warrant.
The official said the White House believed the Canadians were unjustly detained and would work to secure their release but added it would not meddle in independent Department of Justice matters. Meng remains under house arrest.
Trudeau also wants Canada and the United States to collaborate more closely on manufacturing electric vehicles and supplying critical minerals needed to make batteries for cars and other clean technologies, Trudeau told Reuters earlier this month.
Canada also seeks exemptions to a U.S. effort to ensure federal agencies buy American-produced goods. That could hurt Canada, given how tightly the two nations’ economies are integrated.
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
The news is important to all people because it is where we come to know new things about the world, which leads to the development of more life goals that lead to life wisdom. The news also serves as a social connection tool, as we tend to relate to those who know about and believe the things we do. With the power of an open truth-seeking mind in hand, the individual can grow wise and the collective can prosper.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammatical mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
Source:
As a Canadian, I must say I am extremely embarrassed by our man-boy Prime Minister. Trudeau is a willing Soros stooge, and a mindless puppet for the globalists. There are several allegations of pedophilia from when he was a drama teacher in a private school. He’s also known to protect several pedo friends in high places.
And of course he’s pushing the globalist hysteria around Covid – mandatory mask wearing, and hyping the quack-zine big time. Trudeau must go!!