What a difference a new PM makes: Obama and Trudeau discuss clean energy proposals
In their first formal meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to disagree over Islamic State air strikes while presenting a united front to boost clean-energy production after the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Obama and the recently elected Trudeau met Thursday in Manila in talks that focused on how the U.S. and Canada were cooperating on trade, energy and climate change. Recent points of tension -- including Canada’s decision to pull out of a U.S.-led bombing campaign against Islamic State, Obama’s rejection of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone oil pipeline and brewing trade disputes over lumber and labeling rules -- received little emphasis.
“There are no closer friends we have than the Canadians,” Obama said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which wraps up Thursday. He said he planned on hosting Trudeau at the White House in early 2016. "We are confident he’s going to provide a great boost of energy," he said of his Canadian counterpart.
Trudeau, on his first international trip as prime minister, has said a foreign policy priority is to repair ties with the U.S., which have frayed in recent years over Keystone, country-of-origin labeling rules and other issues. Obama has repeatedly reached out to the young politician whose surprise victory and message of change have given him the kind of celebrity status the U.S. president enjoyed at the start of his term.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-19/obama-makes-nice-with-canada-s-trudeau-as-keystone-in-rearview
