Biden aiming to reset relationship with Canada and Mexico after Trump

While there is no expectation of the three leaders emerging from the summit as best friends with all their issues resolved, government officials, former diplomats and regional experts in all three countries are optimistic they can build goodwill and make a stronger commitment to work together.

Biden’s election victory brought a sense of relief in Canada as it marked the end of an erratic stretch in the relationship under Trump. Though the three countries ultimately agreed to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a revamped free trade agreement that’s currently being implemented, the former president’s provocations included threatening to rip up NAFTA, imposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and launching very public personal insults at Trudeau.

Biden even made Trudeau the first leader he met with virtually after taking office. Although Trump visited Canada for a G-7 summit (which ended in disarray after he left early and refused to sign the final joint statement), the former president did not make an official bilateral visit to Canada to meet with Trudeau.

Despite hopes that Biden would rekindle the prime minister’s “bromance” with Barack Obama, his protectionist policies have made the friendship feel more transactional than neighborly.

“President Biden has doubled down on some of the Trump policies, and in other cases, taken actions that are directly against Canada’s interests,” said Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in an interview. “What we haven’t seen is the rebuilding of the relationship that all of us hoped that we would see with the change in administrations.”

Biden’s America-first agenda has been feeding fears in corporate Canada about business prospects in the U.S., which is by far the country’s top trading partner. For example, Canadian business leaders worry Biden’s approach will freeze companies out of U.S. procurement opportunities and that his tax credit proposal for electric vehicles will damage Canada’s automotive sector.

Feeling heat at home on the matter, Trudeau has sharpened his language about his U.S. counterpart.

“It’s counterproductive for the Americans to bring in more barriers and limits on commerce between our two countries,” Trudeau said in French at a news conference Monday when asked about the risks for Canada from U.S. protectionism. “It’s an issue that I’ve already underlined very often with President Biden and it will certainly be part of important conversations that we’ll have later this week.”

Meanwhile, Biden faces his own set of challenges in meeting with López Obrador face-to-face.

The meeting presents a chance for the two men to dispel some distrust, even if the chemistry isn’t there between them.

But it’s unlikely the two…