Remarks by President Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada Before Bilateral Meeting
JUNE 09, 2022•
Los Angeles Convention Center
Los Angeles, California
12:08 P.M. PDT
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Mr. Prime Minister and to your delegation, we start by saying we have no better friend in the whole world than Canada. And that’s not hyperbole. That’s real. And you’re a good personal friend as well.
Before I begin, one of the things that’s going to occupy my country tonight, I suspect, is the first open hearings on January the 6th. And as I said when it was occurring and subsequent, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution. I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election. And there’s a lot of questions — who’s responsible, who’s involved.
I’m not going to make a judgment on that, but I just want to know that — want you to know that we’re going to probably be — a lot of Americans are going to be seeing for the first time some of the detail that occurred.
But you and I have a lot to talk about. We’re going to be hanging out with each other a fair amount at the G7, at the NATO conference in Spain.
But today we’re engaged in our hemisphere. And I think — it’s presumptive of me to say, but I think we both share the same sense that the possibilities for the hemisphere are unlimited.
We already have with — notwithstanding some difficulties in the hemisphere, we already have a circumstance where it’s the most democratic hemisphere in the world. And there’s no reason why, from Canada and along the Arctic, all the way down to the tip of Chile and Argentina, that we can’t — this can’t become a more — a democratic, a united, and middle-class, economically prosperous hemisphere.
And so that’s one of my objectives in this Summit of the Americas. There’s a lot we have to work through. But I want to thank you for your partnership.
PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU: Thank you, Mr. President. That’s a place I want to start — just the friendship between Canada and the United States is deep. It was reminded to me as I was visiting NORAD a couple of days ago just how much we do together. We’re the only places — the only place in world where there is a truly binational command to protect our homelands. It is an example of that.
But as we gather here today, and the reflections that you’re bringing forward on democracy, it reminds us that it is extraordinarily important to be there for each other and to be there for our allies around the world.
And the work that we can do on supporting and projecting and sharing our values has a way of actually supporting and impacting citizens around the world to make the case that democracy is not just fairer but it’s also better for citizens, in terms of putting food on the table, putting futures in front of them. Those are the things we need to work on.
We have worked very closely over the past many months on the issue of Ukraine, where Canada is deeply engaged and supportive of everything we’re doing as a West on being there against Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. And we will continue to work together on that.
We’re also dealing with real challenges around climate around the world and stepping up on that. And it’s always a pleasure to be doing that. But the center of it has to be, even as we gather with our friends across the Americas, how we create prosperity, how we counter the rising cost of living, how we create good jobs for our citizens not just in our respective countries but in each other’s countries and throughout the hemisphere.
And that’s why I’m so pleased to be here to work with you on.
(Speaks in French.) (No translation provided.)
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you.
Well, thank you all very much. Appreciate it.
12:12 P.M. PDT
Readout of President Biden’s Meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada
JUNE 09, 2022
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in Los Angeles on the margins of the Ninth Summit of the Americas to review regional cooperation on economic development, the COVID-19 pandemic, migration, and food insecurity. The President and Prime Minister underscored their commitment to continue holding Russia accountable for its brutal actions in Ukraine, and reviewed their ongoing efforts to provide economic, development, and humanitarian aid to the millions of Ukrainians affected by the violence, as well as to provide security assistance to the government of Ukraine. The President lauded Canada’s close partnership with the United States throughout this crisis and its leadership in enacting comprehensive sanctions and restrictions on Russia. The President also stated he looks forward to seeing the Prime Minister in Madrid for the NATO Summit.
The Leaders also discussed the potential of developing critical minerals in both countries and joint efforts to make our supply chains and economies more resilient to external shocks, including through the work of the U.S.-Canada Supply Chain Working Group. As major energy producers, both Canada and the United States play key roles in supporting security and resilience of supply chains, but Leaders also emphasized a shared commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. The President thanked the Prime Minister for Canada’s support to bolster democracy in the Americas and throughout in the world, and for Canada’s support of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity and the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. Both Leaders reaffirmed the strong bonds between our nations and their commitment to deepening the U.S.-Canada relationship across the breadth of our bilateral agenda.
