Trudeau meeting with Mexican president as ‘Three Amigos’ summit wraps up – National | 24CA News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to satisfy one-on-one with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Wednesday as he wraps up his time on the North American Leaders’ Summit.
Trudeau begins the day with a keynote speech on the connection between Canada and Mexico, simply probably the most neglected bilateral dynamic on a continent much more seized with relations that contain the United States.
The two leaders are to signal a declaration on Indigenous co-operation earlier than Trudeau holds a news convention earlier than departing for Ottawa.
If Tuesday was any indication, the afternoon schedule might should be versatile.
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Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden stared at their ft because the famously long-winded Lopez Obrador spent practically half-hour answering a single query throughout a marathon news convention on the National Palace in Mexico City.
Speaking totally in Spanish, he acknowledged at one level that he’d been speaking for too lengthy _ and when he was performed, Biden wasted no time wrapping issues up.
“For the record, I don’t know what questions I didn’t answer,” the U.S. president stated earlier than decamping for Air Force 1 and a immediate return to the White House.
One of these questions was about Biden’s personal public-speaking proclivities: unapologetically touting his protectionist Buy American doctrine to home audiences whereas singing the praises of continental co-operation internationally.
Trudeau, nonetheless, seemingly received’t shrink back from the subject Wednesday, having raised it instantly with the U.S. president in their very own bilateral assembly the day earlier than.
Trudeau and Biden wrapped up a pair of their very own unfastened ends on Tuesday, together with a workaround for the imperilled Nexus trusted-traveller program and a schedule for the president’s long-delayed first go to to Canada.
A modified type of Nexus, collectively run by the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, might be up and operating by the spring, stated Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.
The modifications, which embrace a streamlined however nonetheless separate interview course of, a quicker renewals course of and expanded staffing ranges on the U.S. aspect, would improve the system’s skill to course of Nexus purposes by 50 per cent, he stated.
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“The demand is there because people see this as a way to accelerate their travel in a flexible, seamless and efficient way,” he stated. “That’s precisely what the vision of this program is, so this is truly a win-win.”
The system is presently coping with a backlog of between 220,000 and 240,000 purposes, he added.
The settlement will enable Canada’s Nexus enrolment centres to reopen, with interviews with U.S. border brokers going down at Canadian airport amenities that already present preclearance providers for travellers heading stateside.
Nexus candidates, who have to be interviewed by each Canadian and U.S. authorities, would sit down with Customs and Border Protection officers for that portion of the method earlier than travelling to the U.S., supplied they’re travelling imminently and leaving from an airport the place customs preclearance is an choice.
International airports in Canada that provide preclearance providers embrace these in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg, in addition to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
The week’s most important trilateral occasion Tuesday touched on key continental points, together with collective assist for Ukraine, one of the simplest ways ahead on gang-ravaged Haiti and the ever-present tide of irregular migration throughout the U.S.-Mexico border.
Canada stated it might buy a U.S.-made surface-to-air missile system to assist Ukraine in its yearlong effort to fend off Russia’s ongoing invasion. Defence Minister Anita Anand stated the system, valued at about $406 million, comes from the extra $500 million in army assist to Ukraine that Trudeau introduced in November.
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But whereas the U.S. continued to press Canada to take a management position in serving to to quell rampant gangs and lawlessness in Haiti, Trudeau stopped in need of making any agency commitments.
“We need to continue to be there for the people of Haiti _ but we need to make sure that the solutions are driven by the people of Haiti themselves,” he stated.
Canada has been centered on imposing sanctions on the “elites” that Trudeau blamed for the violence and political instability _ “a handful of small, extraordinarily wealthy families in Haiti have been causing much of the strife because of political and pecuniary interests.”
There’s extra to do, Trudeau added, however he wouldn’t say whether or not that will contain the federal authorities green-lighting some type of safety pressure within the nation, because the U.S. has been encouraging Canada particularly to tackle.
“We’re going to make sure that what we do this time allows for the Haitian people to get the situation under control. And a big part of that is putting those sanctions on the Haitian leadership that is responsible for so much of the misery.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
