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US leadership 'sorely missed' in past, says Justin Trudeau for 'close friend' Joe Biden

WION Web Team
Washington, United StatesUpdated: Feb 24, 2021, 10:11 AM IST
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Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau meet virtually for the first time since Biden took over the White House Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

Trudeau praised Biden for rejoining the Paris climate accord. They also talked about coronavirus and China

In his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader, US President Joe Biden virtually met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The two leaders talked about the immediate need to bring in more policies around climate change. Trudeau praised Biden for rejoining the Paris climate accord and said, "US leadership has been sorely missed over the past years."

"And I have to say as we were preparing the joint rollout of the communique on this, it’s nice when the Americans are not pulling out all the references to climate change and instead adding them in," he added. 

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Biden returned the praise by claiming that "the United States has no closer friend than Canada"

They also highlighted the recently-tainted relationship of both the countries with China, with Canada also mentioning the two citizens, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who have been detained by China.

"Human beings are not bartering chips," Biden said about the detained Canadian citizens. "We’re going to work together until we get their safe return."

It is still unclear whether the two leaders talked about Canada accessing the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine from the Michigan plant, instead of Belgium. The issue was highlighted in their call, which took place a few days ago, where Biden had said that his priority is to get all American vaccinated first.

However, Trudeau assured the US President that the two countries will work "together to get through Covid but also to make sure we're pulling our weight around the world and making the world a better and safer place for everyone."