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Obama arrives in Ottawa for N. American Leaders' Summit

Xinhua, June 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. President Barack Obama arrived here Wednesday morning for a one-day visit, during which he will attend the North American Leaders' Summit and address a joint session of Canadian Parliament.

Obama promised to visit Canada during Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Washington in March.

Trudeau will host Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for the summit, also called the "Three Amigos" summit, scheduled to be held at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

The summit will be the first between Canada, the United States and Mexico in more than two years. The last North American Leaders' Summit was held in Toluca, Mexico in 2014.

After meeting Nieto here Tuesday, Trudeau told a joint press conference that the Three Amigos summit will showcase the value of free trade and continental cooperation at a time when liberalized trade is under attack in Europe and the United States.

The Ottawa summit comes just one week after Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) after over 40 years. The so-called Brexit vote is believed to be an important theme of the summit.

Canada has negotiated a trade deal with the EU that is slated to take effect next year. The Brexit may delay its ratification and hurt Canada's commodity-driven economy.

The Brexit is also seen as a setback to talks on a U.S.-EU trade deal. Mexico, which already has a trade deal with the EU, has prepared a draft proposal for a pact with Britain.

All the three countries are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries, which Obama has cast as an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Obama wants to finalize the TPP as part of his economic legacy.

The United States is the top export market for both Canada and Mexico. In 2015, U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico totaled 663 billion U.S. dollars and 584 billion U.S. dollars respectively.

Ahead of the summit, the White House revealed that the leaders would commit to a new regional goal of 50 percent of power coming from clean energy by 2025, up from about 37 percent in 2015. Endi