WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will speak with U.S. President Joe Biden today amid continuing fallout from the death of the Keystone XL pipeline project.
The phone call, Biden’s first with a foreign leader since taking office this week, comes as the new administration turns its focus to the country’s economic recovery.
It also comes with parts of Canada up in arms over Biden’s Day 1 executive order rescinding permits for the US$8-billion cross-border pipeline expansion.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is among those urging Trudeau to take Biden to task over the decision and to “respond with consequences” if it’s not reversed.
Biden’s decision has critics in the U.S. Republican party as well: Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, calls it a job-killing “virtue signal” to climate activists.
Trudeau is also likely to voice worries about Biden’s Buy American plan to ensure U.S. workers and manufacturers are the primary beneficiaries of his economic recovery strategy.29dk2902l