Obama joins Trudeau, Mexican president for North American Leaders’ Summit

By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The love-in between Canada and Mexico will expand into a continental threesome today as U.S. President Barack Obama joins Justin Trudeau and Enrique Pena Nieto for the North American Leaders’ Summit.

The huddle, colloquially known as the Three Amigos summit, is expected to focus on clean energy and climate change.

The Mexican president, who has been on a state visit to Canada since Monday, is to sign on to the Canada-U.S. methane reduction deal announced when Trudeau visited Washington last March.

That accord pledges to cut methane emissions 40 to 45 per cent below 2012 levels by 2025.

The three leaders are also expected to announce a goal to achieve 50 per cent clean power generation across North America by 2025, including renewable energy, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage and increased energy efficiency.

Ahead of today’s summit, Trudeau and Pena Nieto cleared away Tuesday long-standing trade and travel irritants: Canada will lift its controversial visa requirement for Mexican visitors before the end of the year while Mexico will end restrictions on Canadian beef imports.

The two leaders touted the relationship between their countries as a model of political and economic co-operation, in sharp contrast to the growing strains of protectionism and isolation sweeping the United States and Britain — a message that’s likely to intensify today when Obama joins Trudeau and Pena Nieto for a day of summitry.

The trio are to hold a joint news conference at the conclusion of the summit this afternoon.

After the summit, Trudeau is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama, who will cap his daylong visit to the Canadian capital with an address to Parliament.

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