Diplomacy

Obama’s First Foreign Trip

President arrives in Ottawa for meeting with Harper.

President Obama went on his first foreign trip today, though he didn’t travel very far: He arrived this morning in Ottawa, where he was greeted by a cheering crowd of 2,000. It is something of a presidential tradition for presidents to make their first visit to Canada, though George W. Bush first went to Mexico. Energy and climate change are on the agenda—environmentalists are pressuring Obama to resist efforts by the Canadian Prime Minister “to exempt the vast oil sands, which contain up to 173 billion barrels of recoverable oil bound into sand and clay, from regulation.” His meeting with Harper, which was scheduled for 10 minutes, lasted 33. The pair is expected to announce plans to work together on clean energy technology at the conclusion of today’s meetings.