North American Leaders' Summit 2016: leaders affirm strong relations

July 2, 2016

On Wednesday, U.S. President met with Canadian Prime Minister  and Mexican President  in. This marks the first time Canadian, U.S., and Mexican leaders have met since 2014, as 2015's summit was not arranged in the harsh political relations at the time.

Among the topics discussed were trade and the countries' economies, and current world events such as the U.S. presidential candidates and the 's

North America has a combined economy representing over 25% of the world's GDP with a little over 7% of the world's population. The countries' combined GDP has risen since 1993 from US$8 trillion to about US$20 trillion in 2016.

The "Three Amigos" have shown an agenda geared towards green energy: pledging to generate 50% clean power across North America by the year 2025, implement a joint study about the addition of renewable energy sources in North America, and implement ten energy-efficiency standards and tests on equipment being traded throughout the continent.

Trade was also a big topic of discussion, with the leaders affirming support not only for NAFTA &mdash; something controversial in the U.S. political campaign &mdash; but also the  (TPP), with Mexican President Peña Nieto stating: "We are fully convinced that by working together [...] we can be the most competitive region in the world". Justin Trudeau also said by December 1 of this year Mexicans will no longer require visas in order to come to Canada.

The leaders held a trilateral press conference with the media after the summit. During the conference, President Obama scorned presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling his rhetoric " or ".

President Barack Obama also addressed a joint session of the Canadian and. Obama was the seventh president to do so &mdash; his other six predecessors being in 1947,  in 1953 and 1958,  in 1961,  in 1972,  in 1981 and 1987, and  in 1995.

Obama spoke about the relationship between Canada and the United States, saying the border was the "longest border of peace on Earth". He also said the United States "could not ask for a better friend or ally than Canada."