MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be the first global leader to hold a call with US President Joe Biden, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday (Jan 20).
“His first call, foreign leader call will be on Friday with Prime Minister Trudeau,” Psaki said during her first press briefing at the White House following Biden’s inauguration.
She noted that the two leaders are expected to discuss the important relationship between the United States and Canada, as well as Biden’s decision on the Keystone Pipeline, which was announced on Wednesday.
Shortly after his inauguration, President Biden revoked the presidential permit that the Trump administration granted to the contentious cross-border oil pipeline project, which was projected to carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of heavy crude from the Canadian province of Alberta down to Nebraska.
The move angered the premier of the Alberta, Jason Kenney, who called on the federal government to impose trade sanctions against the US.
“This is a gut punch for the Canadian and Alberta economies,” Kenney said, urging PM Trudeau to sit down with Biden to discuss the project’s importance to Canada-US relations.
“If, however, the US government refuses to open the door to a constructive and respectful dialogue about these issues, then it is clear that the Government of Canada must impose meaningful trade and economic sanctions in response to defend our country’s vital economic interests,” he said.
The Keystone XL pipeline extension was designed to transport nearly 830,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day, from Alberta to various processing hubs in the middle of the United States. The process of extracting oil from tar sands comes with steep environmental and economic costs, and therefore, during his election campaign, Biden promised to revoke the permit needed to build the pipeline, which is expected to kill thousands of jobs in the Canadian energy industry.
