Foreign policy of the Justin Trudeau government

Dion sought re-engagement with the world, including authoritarian regimes such as Russia and Iran and a focus on multilateralism, climate change, and the United Nations.

On 10 January 2017, Dion was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Chrystia Freeland in a cabinet shuffle, with the move being seen in part as a response to the incoming Trump administration.

On 12 January 2021, Champagne was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Marc Garneau in a cabinet shuffle, with the move being seen in part as a response to the incoming Biden administration.

[11][12] In his mandate letter to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, he also called for increased focus on Canadian trainers for local troops and humanitarian aid for the region.

[19] In 2017, Trudeau criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's issuance of an executive order banning refugees from seven countries, six of which have Muslim majorities, from entering the United States.

[23] Meanwhile, opposition leader Andrew Scheer criticized the campaign as "another foreign affairs failure for Justin Trudeau," accusing him of "[selling] out Canada's principles for a personal vanity project.

[25] However, Bessma Momani, an international affairs expert at the University of Waterloo, said it is not fair to see the loss as an indictment of Trudeau's global popularity.

"[27] Other observers and commentators, including Adam Chapnick, author of Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Stage, and Thomas Juneau, Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, did not even mention Trudeau's personal "brand" as a factor in their respective analyses, but have highlighted more complex factors they felt were more likely to have affected the outcome of the bid, and Canada's international outlook more generally.

Among these were the late start to Canada's campaign (roughly a decade after competitors Ireland and Norway);[28][29] a structural decline in Canadian foreign policy that predated[30] and continued into[31] Trudeau's premiership, including Trudeau's government requiring considerable time and resources to deal with Donald Trump's administration[29] and rivalries with such countries as China, India, and Saudi Arabia; internal friction between the prime minister and former Liberal Party leader turned German ambassador Stéphane Dion;[32] and even flaws within the selection process and the UNSC apparatus itself, including the veto power of its permanent membership leading to a "perpetual stalemate"[33] and the ultra-competitiveness of Canada being clustered with European countries, which tend to vote as a bloc,[34] an element of the campaign that Trudeau had also found fault with.

In a press conference on 17 June 2020, the day the vote was to be held, Trudeau stated, "I have nothing but respect for our two competitors, Ireland and Norway, that have demonstrated an engagement in the world.

"[26] Following the results, at a press conference the following day, Trudeau went on to cite Canada's late start to the campaign as a significant factor in the outcome.

He then declared that Canada would nevertheless have a strong global voice due to the deepened relations it had forged with other countries, and that it would "continue to work with [allies] on all our shared values on the world stage.

In 2016, Trudeau visited China and attended the G-20 summit in Hangzhou where he was affectionately nicknamed Xiao Tudou (小土豆), meaning "little potato" by the Chinese public.

[43] As these three individuals were released at the exact same time in September 2021, many observers speculated they were exchanged as part of a deal between the United States and China.

[44] During Justin Trudeau's second term in office, Canada voiced support for the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests,[45] and called for a U.N investigation into alleged evidence of Uyghur genocide.

Trudeau drew criticism for his trip to India in February 2018, as the official schedule had few business meetings while having numerous photo ops at tourist stops.

The BBC wrote that Trudeau was "jet-setting around the country to take part in what appears to be a series of photo ops cunningly designed to showcase his family's elaborate traditional wardrobe".

[51][52] The Atwal invite controversy also led to fears from Indian prime minister Narendra Modi that Trudeau was appealing to Sikh fundamentalists.

[59] On November 14, Trudeau urged Israel to stop "this killing of women, of children, of babies" and to "exercise maximum restraint" in the Gaza Strip.

Canada's official declaration on the issue expresses "support the people of Myanmar in their quest for democracy, freedom, peace and prosperity".

[68] Justin Trudeau was Prime Minister during the most tense period of the Canada–Philippines waste dispute, an international row over mislabeled Canadian garbage shipped to Manila by a recycling company.

In November 2017, Trudeau promised to solve the issue, but he did nothing until April 2019, when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sent an ultimatum to Canada to bring their trash home.

[72] One of Justin Trudeau 'first foreign policy statements included a call to diffuse Sunni-Shiite tensions in the aftermath of Nimr al-Nimr's execution in Saudi Arabia.

[85] Following Joe Biden's inauguration in January 2021, Trudeau stated that he was "much more aligned" with the new President "on values, on focus, on the work that needs to be done to give opportunities for everyone while we build a better future".

[86] However, Trudeau expressed his concerns over the swift foreign policy changes of the new administration, namely the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline expansion and President Biden's "Buy America" executive order.