Obama’s speech marks the first Commons address by a US president since Bill Clinton spoke on Parliament Hill in 1995.
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“It’s a little sad that this will be the last chance for all three of us to get together in this capacity, given president Obama’s impending retirement”, Trudeau joked.
Both leaders are warning against following politicians peddling what they describe as false populism and “demagogues” with easy answers to hard problems.
“This continental initiative could inspire other oil and gas-producing countries to follow suit, leading to globally significant reductions in emissions that cause climate change”, Dale Marshall of Environmental Defence said in a release.
The leaders spoke Wednesday at a news conference after a meeting of North American leaders in Ottawa, Canada. In March, he compared Mr. Trump’s rhetoric to that of dictators like Hitler and to Mussolini – a comparison he didn’t back away from on Wednesday. USA stocks rallied Wednesday after days of volatility.
But he says there are genuine, longer-term concerns about already weak global growth.
Obama also said the US has offered “all assistance available” to Turkey, following the terrorist attack Tuesday at Istanbul’s main airport.
Obama said similar rhetoric has been used in the past about Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants.
The president says leaders must take anxiety about immigration seriously and counter it “boldly and clearly”.
Trudeau and Pena Nieto demurred when asked about Trump, turning to old tropes about working with whatever person the American people elect as their next leader.
“At the start of the so-called “Three Amigos” summit hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto offered a clear warning: “Isolationism is not a road towards progress”, he said”.
Trump says free trade has been disastrous, costing thousands of United States jobs and depressing wages.
Trump has promised to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to stem the flow of illegal migrants into the United States, and rails regularly against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by his rival Hillary Clinton’s husband Bill when he was president.
Delivering a plea for regional cooperation and free trade, Obama argued – in a thinly-veiled rebuke to the real estate magnate – for growing the United States’ relationship with Mexico, “our neighbor, our friend”. Obama said on Wednesday he was committed to ensuring the pact contained high labor and trade standards.
Heyman said it capped an unprecedented eight-month period of attention by the US on Canada which built a “muscle memory” throughout his government that will keep bilateral relations strong regardless of who replaces Obama in the White House next year.
Obama, however, was responsible for the highlight of the news conference, using the closing moments of the leaders’ joint press conference to launch into a stinging attack on Trump, without naming him directly.
“Even if we wanted to, we can’t seal ourselves off from the world”, he said. The Liberal government has said it is still studying the massive trade agreement.
“We will not rest until we have dismantled these networks of hate that have had an impact on the entire civilized world”, he said.
But the future of Nafta could be uncertain after the U.S. election, which looks set to pit Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
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Speaking on the second day of a stock market rally, which came after sharp drops following Great Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Obama said it was important not to draw analogies to what happened with Brexit with trade relations between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. “That’s cynicism.” Then Obama wrapped up by chuckling to himself and jokingly apologizing for seizing the opportunity afforded by the end of his term to go on “these occasional rants”.
