Biden to host Canadian, Mexican leaders at first Three Amigos summit since 2016
Canada, the United States and Mexico are getting the band back together.
U.S. President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House next week, the first gathering of the so-called Three Amigos since 2016.
The Nov. 18 meeting, formally known as the North American Leaders' Summit, was an annual tradition for the three leaders that began in 2005 until a prolonged hiatus brought on by the election of Donald Trump as president.
It will also be Trudeau's first in-person visit to the U.S. capital since Biden became president in January.
"This year, priorities include finishing the fight against COVID-19, getting the job done on vaccines, tackling the climate crisis, creating new middle-class jobs, building an economic recovery that works for everyone, and migration," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
Canada in particular has a lot it wants to talk about.
High on that list will be a proposed tax credit for American-made electric vehicles, part of the Biden administration's ambitious economic and social spending package known as the Build Back Better Act.
Critics say the credit, worth as much as US$12,500 to new-car buyers in the U.S., would give an unfair advantage to Big Three automakers and undermine the highly integrated auto manufacturing process that exists between the two countries.
That complaint dovetails with Canada's broader concerns about Biden's forceful Buy American rhetoric, which includes a more stringent vetting process for foreign contractors and suppliers looking to capitalize on a generational effort to overhaul U.S. infrastructure.
Pipelines, too, remain a point of contention: cancelling the Keystone XL expansion was part of Biden's Day 1 agenda, and the White House has been dragged into a dispute between Michigan and Enbridge Inc. over a planned upgrade to the cross-border Line 5 pipeline.
The two countries are also bracing for a showdown on long-standing continental irritants like softwood lumber and dairy imports. The U.S. complaint about Canada's rules for importing American-made milk products is the first significant trade dispute since the advent of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement.
Canada is also anxious to play a vital strategic role in supplying critical minerals and rare-earth elements to make the batteries and electronic components so essential to the rapidly expanding North American electric vehicle market.
Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, described the meeting as an "important opportunity" for all three countries to reinforce their economic ties in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council's wish list for the meeting includes advocating for Line 5 while co-operating on reducing greenhouse gas emissions; "challenging" protectionist U.S. measures "that disadvantage Canadian manufactured goods and content," and promoting the idea of a united North American economic front.
News of the meeting also comes on the heels of Monday's relaxation of COVID-19 travel restrictions, which had prevented fully vaccinated Canadian visitors from driving across the Canada-U.S. border for non-essential purposes.
The White House version of Wednesday's announcement described the agenda for the meeting as reaffirming trilateral "strong ties and integration" while "charting a new path" on COVID-19, competitiveness, climate change and migration.
"Strengthening our partnership is essential to our ability to build back better, to revitalize our leadership, and to respond to a widening range of regional and global challenges," the White House statement said.
"With respect for each other's sovereignty and in a true spirit of partnership, we affirm our unwavering vision that North America is the most competitive and dynamic region in the world."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2021.
IN DEPTH
EXCLUSIVE | Gay man taking Canadian government to court, says sperm donation restrictions make him feel like a 'second-class citizen'
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.

Date set for Trudeau to meet with premiers to talk health deals
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he’s invited premiers to Ottawa for a 'working meeting' to discuss a health-care funding deal, on Feb. 7.
The deal to keep Trudeau in power is contingent on action on these NDP priorities this year
As the minority Liberals plot out their policy moves ahead of the 2023 parliamentary sitting, weighing heavily are commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that have to be acted on this year in order to uphold the two-party confidence-and-supply deal. Here is what needs to get done to keep the deal alive.
Canada may be turning corner on inflation, but Bank of Canada governor not ruling out 'mild recession'
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
Here's what central players had to say as the Emergencies Act inquiry hearings wrapped
After six weeks, more than 70 witnesses, and the submission of more than 7,000 documents into evidence, the public hearing portion of the Public Order Emergency Commission wrapped up on Friday.
Opinion
opinion | Don Martin: Trudeau meets the moment – and ducks for cover
Based on Justin Trudeau's first-day fail in the House of Commons, 'meeting the moment' is destined to become the most laughable slogan since the elder Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous campaign rallying cry in 1972, which insisted 'the land is strong' just as the economy tanked.

opinion | Don Martin: Trudeau has a new retirement roadmap, now that Ardern's called it quits
Like Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau’s early handling of the pandemic was a reassuring communications exercise where harsh isolation measures went down easier with a hefty helping of government support, Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'But like the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Canadian PM's best days are arguably behind him. '
opinion | Don Martin: How bad was the committee hearing over holiday travel woes? Let me count the ways
The Standing Committee on Transport gathered Thursday with MPs demanding an explanation for how that highly unusual Canadian winter combination of heavy snow and cold temperatures which delayed or cancelled thousands of post-pandemic reunions. What they got was a gold-medal finger-pointing performance, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
OPINION | Don Martin on Pierre Poilievre's seven New Year's resolutions to top polls in 2023
From a more coherent public health and carbon tax position, to cutting the 'Freedom Convoy' connection and smiling more, Pierre Poilievre has seven New Year's resolutions to woo the voters in 2023, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
opinion | Don Martin's prediction on whether Trudeau will stick around for another election
Find out what 'the best brains in Canadian politics' are predicting for Canadian politics in 2023, in Don Martin's exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
ANALYSIS & INSIGHTS
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Beyonce becomes most decorated artist in Grammys history; Harry Styles wins album of the year
Beyonce sits alone atop the Grammy throne as the ceremony's most decorated artist in history, but at the end of Sunday's show it was Harry Styles who walked away with the album of the year honour.

First tank sent by Canada for Ukrainian forces arrives in Poland
The first of the Leopard 2 tanks Canada is donating to Ukrainian forces has arrived in Poland.
Advocates come together to help sailors stuck for months on tugboats in Quebec port
Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.
At least 200 dead as powerful 7.8 earthquake hits Turkiye, Syria
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkiye and northern Syria early Monday, toppling buildings and triggering a frantic search for survivors in the rubble in cities and towns across the area. At least 207 were killed and hundreds injured, and the toll was expected to rise.
Drake, Michael Buble, Tobias Jesso Jr. among Canadian Grammy winners
Canadian pop favourites Michael Bublé and Drake each have a shiny new Grammy on their shelves, while singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. has two, thanks in part to Harry Styles.
'Natural power': 17-year-old undefeated Quebec boxer gears up for Canada Games
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
31,000 cards: Montreal woman passing along father's extensive collection of Expos baseball cards
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Charles Kimbrough, best known for role in 'Murphy Brown,' dies at 86
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
New study highlights increasing prevalence of muscle dysmorphia among Canadian boys, young men
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.