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The Latest: Canada Parliament wishes Barack Obama ‘four more years’

The Latest on US President Barack Obama’s summit Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

US President Summit
The 207-to-81 vote in the House of Commons yesterday came 30 days before the pact comes into force globally, and brings the total number of nations that have endorsed it to 74. (Reuters)

The Latest on US President Barack Obama’s summit Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Canada’s Parliament broke into chants of ”four more years” as President Barack Obama wrapped up the first address there by a US leader since 1995.

Four years for Obama amounts to wishful thinking. He’s nearing the end of his second term in office and speaks fondly of life after the presidency. His term ends in mid-January 2017. The US Constitution bars him from running for a third term.

Canada’s lawmakers also greeted Obama, who is popular in Canada, with a rousing standing ovation after he arrived in the House of Commons.

The reception prompted Obama to joke that the ”extraordinary welcome” tempted him to just ”shut up and leave.”
He spoke for nearly an hour.


6:15 p.m.

President Barack Obama is highlighting the ties that bind the US and Canada.

In a speech to the Canadian Parliament, Obama is talking about the armies of tourists and business people who cross the US-Canada border daily to shop or go to work. He says the only battles between the countries take place inside a hockey rink.

Obama says that while too many borders produce conflict around the world, the US and Canada are united by the longest border of peace on earth.

He says that despite their differences the US cannot ask for a better friend or ally than Canada.

Barack Obama’s speech to Canada’s Parliament is the first by an American president since President Bill Clinton in 1995.


5:10 p.m.

President Barack Obama has arrived on Parliament Hill for his address to Canada’s Parliament.

Obama was greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, before they approached a crowd of school children to shake hands and exchange high-fives.

The three then walked back along a red carpet and into Parliament’s Centre Block where the two leaders began a private meeting.

Obama will become the ninth American leader to address Parliament, and the first to do so since President Bill Clinton in 1995.


5:05 p.m.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and US President Barack Obama have a message for politicians shopping simple solutions to economic woes: It’s not that easy.

Both leaders are warning against following politicians peddling what they describe as false populism and ”demagogues” with easy answers to hard problems.

Obama says ”there aren’t a lot of short cuts” to solving global problems.

The leaders spoke Wednesday at a news conference after a meeting of North American leaders in Ottawa, Canada.

Much of the conversation was about the political trends behind the rise of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Great Britain’s decision to pull out of the European Union.
Pena Nieto stood by his previous comments comparing Trump’s rhetoric to that of Hitler and Mussolini. He says the end result in the 1940s was ”tragedy for mankind.”


4:35 p.m.

President Barack Obama is offering this advice to British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European leaders after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union: Catch your breath, develop an orderly plan that the public can understand and work to get it right.

Obama says the process of breaking from the 28-nation bloc will be difficult. But he says it doesn’t ”need to be panicky.”

Obama says financial markets have settled down since the historic vote nearly a week ago and he credits preparation by central banks, finance ministers and the US Treasury secretary.

But he says there are genuine, longer-term concerns about already weak global growth. He says the trend could worsen, especially if investment stalls in Britain and the European continent.


4:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama says anti-immigration sentiment has been ”exploited by demagogues” before but he’s not worried Americans will follow that path.

Speaking at a summit of North America leaders in Ottawa, Obama sought to reassure both Canadians and Mexicans about the direction of the immigration debate in the presidential campaign.

Obama didn’t name Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but he alluded to Trump’s rhetoric about barring Muslims from the US and building a wall along the border to Mexico.

Obama says similar rhetoric has been used in the past about Irish, Polish and Italian immigrants. But he says that rhetoric didn’t stop immigrants from coming to the US ”because America offered possibility.”

The president says leaders must take anxiety about immigration seriously and counter it ”boldly and clearly.” But he says ”you shouldn’t think that is representative of how the American people think.”


4 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there will always be people who want to turn inward, but that working together will bring growth and benefits.

Trudeau says trade leads to innovation as he defended trade liberalization when asked about the rise in protectionist sentiment and pronouncements by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump this week blamed globalization for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and threatened to extricate the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement, in effect since 1994.

Trump also pledged to withdraw from a pending trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, including the US and Canada.
Last week, Britain voted to leave the 28-nation European Union.

Trudeau commented at the conclusion of a summit of North America’s leaders’ in the Canadian capital.

US President Barack Obama followed by saying withdrawing from trade deals ”is the wrong medicine” for those worried about lower wages and the growing wage gap. Obama says cutting off trade will make ”all of us poorer.”


3:45 p.m.

President Barack Obama says he’ll keep working for a trans-Pacific trade deal that is stuck in the US Congress and opposed by both of the candidates who are vying to succeed him.

Addressing a news conference, Obama says the goal in an integrated global economy is not for countries to shut themselves off from the world. Instead, he says the goal is to work together to raise standards around the world for workers and the environment.

He says that’s exactly what the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement does.

Obama says the pact is the right thing to do and ”we’re going to keep working for it.”

The presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, both oppose the TPP.


3:25 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is poking fun at President Barack Obama’s ”pending retirement,” eliciting a big smile and a thumbs-up from Obama.

Opening a news conference with the leaders of the US and Mexico, Trudeau joked that Obama keeps bringing up the fact that he’ll be out of office soon. Obama’s term ends in January 2017.

Trudeau made the joke at the end of a summit of North America’s leaders’ in the Canadian capital.

Obama is also scheduled to meet one-on-one with Trudeau as well as address the Canadian Parliament before he returns to the White House.


1 p.m.

President Barack Obama says the character of the US has been shaped by Mexican Americans who have influenced its culture, politics and business.

He says it’s useful to highlight issues both countries are working on at a time of heated US campaign trail rhetoric about Mexicans.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he’ll build a wall along the US-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration and send Mexico the bill.

Trump also has called for deporting millions of immigrants living illegally in the US.

Obama says such talk ignores the enormous contributions by Mexican Americans to the US.

He commented after a one-on-one meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (PAYN’-yuh nee-EH’-toh) on the margins of a summit of North America’s leaders in Canada.

Obama says Pena Nieto accepted his invitation to Washington. No date was given.


10:45 a.m.

The leaders of Canada, the US, and Mexico are spelling out how their nations will work together to curb global warming.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, US President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (PAYN’-yuh nee-EH’-toh) say in a joint statement that they’ll strive to use renewable sources of energy to generate 50 percent of North America’s electrical power by 2025.

That’s a significant leap from last year’s 37 per cent.

They’re pledging to accelerate cross-border transmission projects, strengthen energy efficiency standards, and emphasize more efficient products and cleaner vehicles in government purchases.

They say North America has the ”capacity, resources and the moral imperative” to build on that agreement.


10:15 a.m.

US President Barack Obama has arrived in Ottawa, Ontario, for a summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

Trade, the environment and fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union are expected to top Wednesday’s talks in the Canadian capital with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (PAYN’-yuh nee-EH’-toh).

The attack on a Turkish airport that killed 41 people the day before the summit is also expected to add urgency to discussions about how North America’s neighbors can collectively enhance security.

The leaders will stress cooperation less than a week after Britain’s vote to leave the EU highlighted public fears about globalization.

Donald Trump is also tapping into those concerns in his presidential run.

Barack Obama also planned an address to the Canadian Parliament.

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First published on: 30-06-2016 at 08:03 IST
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