Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have his long-expected first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.
The two leaders have spoken by phone but haven't yet met face-to-face.
Trudeau's office said in a statement that he and Trump "look forward to discussing the unique relationship between Canada and the United States of America and how we can continue to work hard for middle class Canadians and Americans, together."
A statement from the White House said Trump and Trudeau "look forward to a constructive conversation on strengthening the relationship between our two nations."
Trudeau spoke to Trump last month, after a deadly shooting at a mosque in Quebec City. He also spoke to Trump on Jan. 21, to congratulate the president on his inauguration. Trudeau and Trump "reiterated the importance of the Canada-United States bilateral relationship, and discussed various areas of mutual interest," according to a read-out of the call provided by Trudeau's office. The read-out noted the two leaders looked forward to meeting "soon."
Trudeau will be travelling much of next week, with a trip to France and Germany set for Feb. 16 and 17, during which he'll address the European Parliament.
The date of Trudeau and Trump's first meeting has been the subject of much speculation in Ottawa. Traditionally, the U.S. president makes Canada the destination of his first official visit, although former president George W. Bush first travelled to Mexico in 2001.
The Canadian government has been focused on the possible impact of Trump's trade policies after he pledged during the election to renegotiate or trash NAFTA and pull out of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump cancelled U.S. participation in the TPP during his first week in office, essentially killing the agreement.
A number of Canadian cabinet ministers have travelled to D.C. to meet with their Trump adminstration counterparts, including Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is in D.C. Thursday, to meet with senior White House economic advisors and with several senators on the finance and banking committees.
Maryscott Greenwood, senior adviser to the Canadian-American Business Council, says Canadian and American officials will want to plan much of the meeting in advance, but Trump makes it unpredictable.
"For this president, you've got to throw out the playbook... whatever the normal course of action is, is something that's going to be totally different," Greenwood told Don Martin, host of CTV's Power Play.
"Whatever you think now could be different in an hour, and it certainly could be different by Monday."
Canadian officials have been emphasizing the importance of Canadian consumers to the American economy, noting repeatedly that Canada is the top customer for 35 states. Canada is the number two or three customer for all the other states, Greenwood said, which the Trump administration is quickly learning.
"This White House really wants to show that it can get foreign policy right and that it can get trade right... I think there is a real effort here in Washington, in the White House, to make sure that it goes well with their Canadian counterparts," she said.
