President Joe Biden meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Thursday, November 18.
"This is one of the easiest relationships you can have as an American president," Biden declared at the start of their Oval Office meeting. "One of the best."
"We've got a lot, a lot of work to continue to do," Trudeau replied — pointing to climate change, COVID-19 challenges and rebuilding economies.
Biden, Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will convene later Thursday for the tradition of the North America Leaders' Summit, with all three allies facing deep differences on migration, climate and trade.
Trudeau arrived in Washington with concerns about buy-American provisions in the president's proposed $1.85 trillion social services plan. Mexico's priorities heading into the summit were to obtain concrete advances on immigration and more equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The White House meetings will be the first trilateral get-together for North American leaders since a June 2016 gathering of Trudeau, Barack Obama and then Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, in Ottawa. The gatherings took a hiatus under President Donald Trump, who feuded with Trudeau and Nieto during his tenure.
