Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is heading to Washington next week to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Thursday in a press release that he will head south on June 20 for a brief visit in which the two leaders will discuss the ratification process for CUSMA, the renegotiated NAFTA trade deal, which is currently stalled in the U.S. Congress amid partisan infighting.
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Trudeau’s government limited debate on the ratification bill in the House of Commons on Thursday, setting aside a total of five hours to debate the legislation at second reading before it heads to committee for examination.
The bill faces a tight time crunch if the Liberals want to get it through Parliament before the end of June, when both the House of Commons and the Senate rise for the summer ahead of the federal election this fall.
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The Canadian Press reported on Tuesday that the government will recall parliamentarians over the summer if it needs to in order to pass the ratification bill.
Government House Leader Bardish Chagger was asked about those reports on Wednesday and said that option is always available to governments.
Until the new NAFTA is ratified in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the existing agreement remains in effect.
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Also on the agenda for the meeting will be the upcoming G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, and what the press release described as “China‘s wrongful detention of two Canadian citizens.”
The G20 summit takes place at the end of June, and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence said during a visit to Ottawa earlier this month that Trump will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the summit and urge China to release the two Canadians.
Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in December 2018 following the arrest by Canadian officials of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on a provisional arrest warrant from the U.S., which is seeking her extradition and has charged both her and her company with skirting sanctions on Iran and corporate espionage.
China has linked the arrest of Meng with its detention and arrest of the two Canadians and insisted she should be let go.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has urged Trudeau to call Xi directly to discuss the matter.
On Wednesday night, the PMO confirmed Trudeau has reached out to Chinese officials asking to speak with Premier Li Keqiang.
The PMO did not say what the Chinese response to that request was.
CBC News first reported earlier that day that the Chinese were ignoring Trudeau’s request.
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