U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Canada in March, the White House said Tuesday, in what would be his first trip to the nation since winning the Oval Office.
The announcement was made in a readout of a meeting involving Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City. Details around when in March Biden would be visiting Canada, for how long and where, were not shared.
Biden last visited Canada in December 2016, when he was vice president in the Obama administration. The last time a sitting American president was in Canada was when Donald Trump came to Quebec for the G7 Leaders’ Summit in June 2018.
Canada is normally one of the first foreign trips for a new president, but Biden’s visit has been delayed, in part due to COVID-19. Biden was elected president in late 2020.
During their meeting Tuesday, Biden and Trudeau discussed economic competitiveness and growth, climate commitments and security and defence, the White House said.
They also discussed the trusted-traveller program known as Nexus, which has been partially shut down since the start of COVID-19 due to a dispute with U.S. Customs and Border Protection over the legal protections they have at centres in Canada.
Biden and Trudeau also talked about regional and global issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, instability in Haiti, and irregular migration and forced displacement throughout the region.
A readout from the prime minister’s office highlighted the conversations between the two leaders, and mentioned that Trudeau told Biden Canada will buy a U.S.-manufactured National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System for Ukraine.