Trudeau is the first world leader to speak with president-elect Joe Biden
Posted November 9, 2020 8:05 pm.
Last Updated November 9, 2020 8:06 pm.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first leader to speak with U.S. president-elect Joe Biden on Monday.
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President-elect of the United States of America, @JoeBiden, to congratulate him, as well as Vice-President-elect, @KamalaHarris, on their election win. Read a summary of the call here: https://t.co/LvYZbe0zpm
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) November 9, 2020
According to the PM’s office Trudeau congratulated Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris on their election win and committed to a good working relationship.
During the call the two leaders touched a number of crucial issues that the two countries could work together on moving forward:
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- Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic
- A sustainable economic recovery
- Fighting against climate change
- Global security
- Working together within NATO and G7
- Addressing anti-black racism
- Trade; softwood lumber and U.S. protectionism
- Keystone XL
- The cases of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor
We talked about those specific challenges today, as well as trade, energy, NATO, anti-Black racism, and China’s arbitrary detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. On these and other issues, President-elect @JoeBiden and I agreed to keep in touch and work closely together.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 9, 2020
Earlier in the day the prime minister said his government will continue to stand up for Canadian jobs if the Biden administration chooses to put up more trade blocks between the neighbouring countries.
Trump has imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and other goods throughout his term and has publicly attacked Trudeau on numerious occasions. Most expect Trudeau to align with Biden on more issues than he has with the contentious Trump.
Biden campaigned on the idea of limiting foreign products in his plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy over the next four years as part of what he has described as a Build Back Better strategy. That could have a big impact on Canadian jobs and interests.
The prime minister committed to continuing a working relationship with the Trump administration until Biden is officially inaugurated.