MEXICO CITY – President Joe Biden kicked off day two of the North American Leaders’ Summit Tuesday with a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, where the two leaders discussed clean energy and support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The meeting will likely build on previous goals established at the G20 conference in Bali last November, where both Biden and Trudeau were present.
The meeting also comes weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Biden in Washington and addressed a joint session of Congress to ask for more aid to Ukraine. Congress went on to allocate about $45 billion in additional emergency assistance to Ukraine following Zelenskyy’s remarks.
Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed the United States alliance with Ukraine and has oftentimes turned to other allies to try and get more aid to the country.
“You’ve always been there,” Biden told Trudeau as they briefly appeared before the cameras. “Whenever I’ve called, you’ve picked up the phone.”
The White House later released a summary of the meeting that said the two leaders discussed security and defense, reaffirmed their commitment to support Ukraine, underscored the importance of expanding legal pathways for migrants and increasing refugee resettlement and pledged their support for democratic institutions in Brazil following unrest in that country over the weekend.
Biden also said he intends to travel to Canada in March.
The latest
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Seeing eye to eye: The meeting between the two leaders will likely have few fireworks, as the two leaders share similar goals in addressing climate change.
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A family photo: Before heading into their trilateral meeting, Biden, Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador posed for a photo at Mexico’s National Palace. They were initially joined by their spouses, who chatted on the sidelines as the leaders went in front of the cameras.
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The trilateral meeting: The meeting between the three North American leaders will take place after the photo, where they will talk about a number of issues like supply chain, clean energy, and trade.
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Making progress: The three leaders already have announced key steps on several issues, including setting up a forum with industry to increase investment in semiconductor supply chains; committing to reduce methane emissions from solid waste and wastewater by at least 15% by 2030 from 2020 levels; working to improve coordination and address the root causes of migration; cooperating against labor and sex trafficking; promoting racial justice and equity in public policies; and combatting violence against LGBTQ people.
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This is the 10th North American Leaders Summit. Biden held the last one in November 2021 in Washington D.C.
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Biden met with López Obrador Monday evening, where the two discussed migration, fentanyl and energy.
Top takeaways
While Biden’s meeting with Trudeau will likely be all kumbaya, the meeting between the three leaders could cause some sparks over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Canada and the United States have to decide whether to go to a dispute settlement panel under USMCA against Mexico for favoring its state-owned energy suppliers.
And Canada and Mexico also have their own gripes with the United States.
Mexico and Canada have argued the United States is not applying what was agreed upon for USMCA on how to treat autos and cars vehicles. The two countries called for a dispute settlement panel, where they argued that more vehicles should be considered for duty-free shipping.
Want to know more? Here’s what you missed.
Day one of North American Leaders’ Summit: Biden is in Mexico City. His first action? Asking the Mexican president for help with fentanyl
What’s on the agenda: Biden, visiting Mexico, will highlight rising fentanyl deaths and record migrant crossings
From the El Paso border: Biden faces pleas for help on migrant crisis as he visits El Paso in first trip to border
Reach Rebecca Morin at Twitter @RebeccaMorin_
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden in Mexico: US talks Ukraine-Russia war, energy with Canada