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Of: TT
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Photo: Evan Vucci / AP / TT
US President Joe Biden, here with his national adviser Jake Sullivan, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Juan González, who works on Latin American issues at the National Security Council, held a virtual meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared their friendship in the first bilateral meeting of the countries since Biden took office.
“America has no closer friend than Canada,” Joe Biden said during a video link between the White House in Washington and Trudeau’s office in Ottawa.
Trudeau said the neighbors will work together to fight COVID, but also to work with the United States on other global political issues.
“US leadership has been lacking in recent years,” Trudeau said in a statement to former US President Donald Trump, whose “America First” policy strained relations with Canada, among others.
Trudeau was the first foreign leader to congratulate Biden by phone after the victory in the November presidential election, and when Biden picked up the phone to call a colleague after taking office, the call went to Trudeau.
After the mutual public honors, the leaders spoke behind closed doors. The agenda included climate change, the North American economy, the Arctic, and developments in Venezuela and Myanmar.
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