Pence says US-Canada relationship has 'never been stronger'

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Vice President Mike Pence has said that President Donald Trump is a "great friend of the Canadian people" and that US-Canada relationship has "never been stronger," less than a year after a trade tiff had chilled the allies' historically warm ties.

Pence was in the Canadian capital hoping to build momentum to pass a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

Trump recently removed US steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, clearing a roadblock to a North American trade deal that his team negotiated last year.

The trade penalties were a sore point in relations that reached a low last summer when Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "weak" and "dishonest" after the Canadian-hosted Group of Seven summit of major industrial nations.

"President Trump and I believe the relationship between the United States and Canada has never been stronger and that is a reflection of his leadership and your leadership," Pence told Trudeau on Thursday.

Pence later said at a news conference that Trump is a "great friend of the Canadian people." Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, called Pence's comments "laughable."
"I highlighted to the vice president that there was a significant amount of concern among Canadians on the new anti-choice laws being passed in a number of American states and highlighted that Canadians and indeed this government will always be a stanch defender of woman's rights and a woman's right to choose," Trudeau said. "We had a cordial conversation but it is one that we have very different perspectives."