U.S. President Joe Biden will contact down in Ottawa Thursday for his first official state visit to Canada since profitable the presidency greater than two years in the past — and the journey could possibly be a possibility for the 2 international locations to chop some offers.
Biden’s two-day visit begins tonight with a assembly with the King’s consultant in Canada, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon.
Different deliberate occasions embody Biden’s deal with to Parliament on Friday, a sequence of conferences with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and different high-level Canadian officers, and what the White Home is looking an “intimate gathering” at Trudeau’s residence. There may even be a “pull apart” in some unspecified time in the future with Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre.
First Woman Jill Biden may even be available for the visit. It is a probability to “construct on her friendship” with the prime minister’s spouse Sophie, stated White Home spokesperson John Kirby. There’s some type of “spousal program” deliberate for the 2.
Canada will then host the Bidens for a state dinner on the Aviation and House Museum. Lots of of dignitaries have been invited.
First Woman Jill Biden, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff arrive for an occasion in the East Room of the White Home in Washington, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Jill Biden might be in Ottawa for the two-day working visit. (Susan Walsh/AP Picture)
Whereas Trudeau stated forward of the journey that he wished to get Biden out of Ottawa (in January, he floated the thought of taking Biden to a manufacturing facility to satisfy employees “constructing Canada, North America’s future”), the president and his spouse aren’t anticipated to depart the nation’s capital.
Watch and hearken to U.S. President Joe Biden’s first state visit to Canada on CBC Information. Particular stay protection begins Friday at 1 p.m. ET on CBC Information Community, CBC Gem, the CBC Information App and YouTube, and at 1:30 p.m. ET on CBC Radio and the CBC Hear app.
The final U.S. president to spend the evening in Canada on a non-summit visit was George W. Bush in 2004.
The plan for Biden’s visit is kind of totally different from Bush’s journey, which occurred simply months after the U.S. invaded Iraq.
The 2 leaders are set to debate the continuing conflict in Ukraine, the deteriorating scenario in Haiti, the state of Canada’s army at a time of rising world threats, the Protected Third Nation Settlement and the inflow of refugees at Quebec’s Roxham Highway crossing.
There would be the standard speak about commerce and economic system — a high-profile situation as inflation continues to weigh on folks on either side of the border.
“This visit is about taking inventory of the place we’re, what we have finished and what we have to prioritize,” Kirby instructed a Wednesday briefing with reporters forward of the journey.
“We will speak about our two democracies stepping as much as meet the challenges of our time. That features taking concrete steps to extend defence spending, driving a world race to the highest on clear power and constructing affluent and inclusive economies.”
A rocky begin to the connection
In contrast to some earlier presidents, Biden didn’t make Canada his first international cease after taking the highest job. Actually, Biden’s early days have been marked by some tensions with Canada.
One among his first official acts was to rescind a presidential allow to construct the multi-billion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline — killing a main financial driver for Alberta’s oilpatch.
Lots of of pipes have arrived on the Trans Mountain storage yard close to Hope, B.C. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
Biden additionally campaigned on an infrastructure plan with strict Purchase American protectionist provisions and vowed to earmark huge authorities contracts for U.S. corporations — a coverage that threatened to ice out Canadian companies.
That menace stays. Biden touted the coverage throughout his February State of the Union deal with — however Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kristen Hillman, sounded a extra optimistic observe on the coverage throughout a current CBC interview.
On the peak of the COVID vaccine provide crunch, the Biden White Home dominated out sending a few of its provide to companions like Canada. It later despatched some AstraZeneca photographs, which weren’t broadly used south of the border.
Persistent U.S. challenges to Canada’s supply-managed dairy sector proceed to upset the Canada-U.S. relationship, and the softwood lumber file stays an irritant.
EV tax credit score, NEXUS offers reported in current months
However there’s been some significant progress on problems with mutual curiosity in current months.
The U.S. agreed to amend its profitable electrical automobile tax credit score to incorporate autos assembled in Canada — a reversal that prompted appreciable aid in Ottawa.
After months of haggling, Canada and the U.S. additionally lately got here to an settlement to maintain the favored NEXUS trusted traveller program operational.
The U.S. wished authorized protections for its border officers that the Liberal authorities stated threatened Canadian sovereignty. The workaround will make the appliance course of a little extra cumbersome, however not less than this system lives on.
Canada and the U.S. additionally have signed a sequence of commitments on semiconductor manufacturing and important minerals — a part of a coordinated try and problem China’s hegemony in these areas.
These current victories may clarify why Canada is ready to roll out the crimson carpet for Biden.
The visit could possibly be a probability to signal another win-win offers, stated Maryscott Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Enterprise Council and an skilled on cross-border relations.
She stated additional motion on important minerals is probably going — the U.S. is raring to get its palms on these invaluable manufacturing inputs and there are solely so many locations around the globe that may provide them.
WATCH: Financial system on prime of agenda as Biden makes first visit to Canada as president
Financial system on prime of agenda as Biden makes first visit to Canada as President
If Ottawa can’t compete greenback for greenback with U.S. subsidies in the Inflation Discount Act, it has to take action deal by deal, says CEO on the Canadian American Enterprise Council Maryscott Greenwood.
Greenwood stated the president’s visit is “fairly important” for bilateral relations.
Whereas the 2 males have met on the sidelines of some summits, there’s nothing like a face-to-face on Canadian soil, she stated.
“It causes the whole paperwork of the U.S. to mainly cease no matter it is doing and concentrate on Canada. That is a optimistic,” she stated.
