United States President, Joe Biden, has held the first bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau.
During the meeting, the two leaders discussed mutual policy priorities in respect of climate change and China. Also, they exchanged opinions on how to secure the release of two Canadians held captive in China.
The Chinese detention of two Canadians was a major discussion issue. In 2018, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were accused of spying and detained. Both were indicted in June 2020.
According to the international news agency, it was alleged by Canada that they were detained in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei Executive, Meng Wanzhou on a United States warrant.
During the meeting, Biden said: “Human beings are not bartering chips. We’re going to work together until we get their safe return.”
However, Justin Trudeau slammed the administration of Donald Trump during the meeting and thanked Biden for “stepping up.”
He said: “As we are preparing the joint rollout and communique… it’s nice when the Americans aren’t pulling out all references to climate change.”
Biden later said that Canada and the US would “work in lockstep to display the seriousness of our commitment [to climate change] both at home and abroad.”
