They also discussed global trade.
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The U.S. president, meanwhile, said that after eight years in office, he knows that “The prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing exclusively on your local market, that’s the wrong medicine”.
The leaders stressed their desire to deepen ties between the two nations, which along with the United States are members of the North American Free Trade Agreement. He’s claims free trade has been disastrous costing thousands of USA jobs and depressing wages.
Obama has strongly criticised Trump in recent weeks and took aim at the Republican’s promises to clamp down on what he says is out-of-control illegal immigration.
For Obama, the visit is a chance to galvanize three major economies behind the advances made in the Paris climate-change accord, at a time when the prospects for multilateral cooperation around the world and the durability of worldwide agreements have been clouded by Britain’s recent vote to leave the European Union.
When talking about trade, Barack Obama noted that free trade must also be fair trade.
“We’ve seen your prime minister welcome new arrivals at the airport and extend a hand of friendship and say, ‘you’re safe at home now'”. “Today’s climate agreement stands as proof that co-operation pays off, and that working together always beats going it alone”.
Yet there was no avoiding the real possibility of Trudeau and Pena Nieto sharing the stage with Trump next year, if the controversial real estate mogul beats Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election.
Obama traveled to Ottawa for the North America Leaders’ Summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Neito.
“Thank you very much”, Obama told Canada’s cheering lawmakers on Wednesday, as he concluded his speech on globalization, the new global order, and “universal values”.
Obama is also scheduled to meet one-on-one with Trudeau as well as address the Canadian Parliament before he returns to the White House.
Obama said his electoral victory, based on a platform about improving the lives of workers and lower and middle-class people, proves that “populism” is not a synonym for “cynicism”. No date was given.
Wednesday’s meeting is expected to be significantly warmer than last time, when Harper was unwilling to budge on Mexican visa restrictions to Canada and Obama kept mum on whether he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
Large scale cross-border clean energy transmission projects are a major focus of the leaders’ goal.
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In the wake of Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, Obama’s speech reaffirmed the role that Canada and the United States can play to promote progressive social and economic policies in a globalized society. President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico has harshly criticized Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border to keep out immigrants.
