Ivanka Trump attended a roundtable meeting with female CEO’s and business leaders with her father, President Donald Trump, and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Feb. 13)
The Waldorf Astoria and women making it “bigly” in the workplace took center stage on Monday as Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau headed south for a White House meeting with President Donald Trump.
Trump was talking, as is nearly always the case, about Trump.
The President first brought up ties to Trudeau’s father, Canada’s longtime Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and a 1981 picture showing the two men together.
“I’m honored to be here with Prime Minister Trudeau, whose father I knew, and respected greatly,” said Trump. “He gave me a picture of myself and his father at a special place, the Waldorf-Astoria together.”
The two leaders went on to a meeting with women executives, at which Trudeau found himself seated next to Ivanka Trump. Trudeau named a Cabinet consisting 50 percent of women. The Trump administration is a lineup of white guys, its two women being U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Trump took up the theme of contributions that women have made to his real estate empire, and tied that in with the prosperity of Canada, saying:
Caption
Close
“Women, as you know, I can say from past life, I had so many women executives who were phenomenal and they really helped me a great deal in business. They play a tremendously important role, women in our economy.
“In order to create economic growth, and lots of well paying jobs, we must ensure our economy is a place where women work and thrive, and I think that’s happening in the United States much moreso. And I know Justin, I know in Canada it’s happening bigly (sic) and that’s very important.”
Trump was on best behavior at a later news conference, saying the United States is “deeply fortunate to have a neighbor like Canada” but got in a plug for enhanced vetting of those bound for the two countries.
“It’s more vital than ever that we strengthen our vital alliance,” said the President. “We work in common cause against terrorism.”
Trudeau was diplomatic in return, talking trade and saying: “At the end of the day, Canada and the U.S. will always remain each other’s essential partner.”
And he sidestepped the Grand Canyon and Nahanni Canyon-wide gulf between the two leaders on climate and refugee policy, saying.” As we know, relations between neighbors are pretty complex, and we won’t always agree on everything.”
Trump was Trump on weekend U.S. deportation raids conducted in a half-dozen states.
“We are going to get the bad ones, the really bad ones, we’re getting them out and that’s what we’re doing,” said the 45th President.
The 23rd Prime Minister of Canada again showed his footwork — Trudeau is an amateur boxer — saying: “The last thing Canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves.”
The two leaders had much to discuss.
The Canadians scored one success in a joint statement by the two countries — expanded clearance of U.S. bound cargoes. Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest trading partners.
“We intend to accelerate the completion of pre-clearance for additional cities and continue to expand this program,” said a joint statement.
Trump has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiated under Republican President George H.W. Bush and Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
He and Trudeau are far apart on refugees. Trump has tried to close the door to people entering the United States from Syria.
Trudeau has opened the door to Syrian refugees, and was at the airport to welcome the first flight and hand out warm clothes suitable to winter in the Great White North.
Trudeau had a sort of bro’mance with President Obama. But his politics are far different from those of Trump.
Trudeau and his country are pro-immigration, committed to carbon reductions on climate change. Trudeau has called for legalization of marijuana. He is a former secondary school teacher, who boxes and is a skier. Trump is a real estate developer and golfer.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
