Prime Minister Trudeau Lands In Manila

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has landed in Manila, Philippines to take part in the APEC Summit. This comes immediately after his attendance at the G20 Summit in Turkey.

APEC is a multi-national organization of countries surrounding the Pacific Ring. This year’s summit is hosted by the Philippine President Benigno Aquino. The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is on top of the agenda as details are being ironed out.

The summit will also be the debut of Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stephan Dion. Earlier this week, Minister Dion tweeted out that International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland will be joining the Canadian delegation in Manila.

The APEC summit will also be the first face-to-face meeting between US President Barack Obama and Trudeau.

Stephen Clarkson, professor at the University of Toronto specializing in Canadian politics and Canada-US relations, believes that Canada is too “insignificant” to the United States to achieve major progress in the Canada-US relations in the APEC Summit.

Clarkson said that he does not see a big shift towards the overall relationship between the two countries. “We might get their attention for about 5-6 minutes if Canada changes it’s environmental policy,” he adds.

The prime minister’s arrival in Manila was met by throngs of people on social media praising his looks. The hashtag “#APEChottie” became one of the top trending topics on Twitter in the country. One user pinned the Mexican president against Trudeau asking the most tantalizing question on the planet: “Canadian Bae or Mexican Papi?”

The APEC Summit and G20 event are two of many international events on Prime Minister Trudeau’s itinerary. Trudeau will be attending the Commonwealth Meetings in Malta and an audience with Queen later this month. He will also be attending the COP21 Climate Change talks in Paris alongside the premiers.