President Joe Biden welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House Thursday afternoon in advance of North American Leaders' Summit they'll have with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
'This is one of the easiest relationships that we have,' Biden said seated next to Trudeau.
The president acknowledged during the meeting that a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing is 'something we are considering.'
During his virtual meeting with China's Xi Jinping Monday night, White House officials said the Olympics didn't come up - however The Washington Post reported Tuesday that a boycott was on the table.
In the Oval, Biden brushed off another question about tax breaks for electric cars made solely in the U.S., which is a part of the current Build Back Better package, and something the Canadians have a problem with.
'We're going to talk about that,' he told reporters in the room. Trudeau didn't even acknowledge the journalists.
Thursday's meetings mark the first North American summit since 2016, as former President Donald Trump didn't keep up the Bush 43-era tradition.
But the 'three amigos' as they are known, will not hold a joint press conference.
In all eight summits held since the meeting's inception in 2005, there has been a trilateral press conference.
President Joe Biden (right) welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) to the White House Thursday for their bilateral meeting head of the North American Leaders' Summit, scheduled for later in the afternoon
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on during a bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon
President Joe Biden said during a short Q&A at the top of his meeting with Canada's Justin Trudeau that instituting a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics is 'something we are considering'
President Joe Biden (right) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) listen to reporters' questions at the top of their meeting Thursday in the Oval Office
White House deputy press secretary Chris Meagher said Wednesday there would be 'pool sprays' - which is when reporters yell questions at the leaders.
The leaders do not have to answer them, as Trudeau displayed.
The White House has pointed out there will be separate opportunities for the leaders to be questioned - at the top of each bilateral meeting Biden is hosting, first with Trudeau and then with Obrador.
But former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush held full press conferences with their counterparts at their respective summits, which led to some questions the leaders struggled to answer, including the future of relations between the three countries following the election of Donald Trump.
'I'll be happy to answer questions after I meet with all the leaders,' Biden said Thursday morning, in advance of the meetings, at a bill signing event.
During an interview with Politico Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden's lack of official press conferences is more of a media problem than an issue for the American people.
'I think that's more of an issue related to the White House press corps ... and D.C. press, than it is of concern to the American public,' Psaki said in an interview that was part of a Politico Women Rule livestream event.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) shakes hands with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (right) during a meeting in Washington before the leaders headed to the White House to meet with President Joe Biden
Trudeau arrived in Washington Wednesday with
