CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Thank you all for being here.

We acknowledge the land we are meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples.

I’m very happy to welcome my friend, United States Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, to Toronto for her first official visit to Canada.

This is a very consequential time for both Canada and the United States. The global economy is changing, and that poses challenges for both of our countries – but it also offers historic opportunities today and in the years ahead.

The hopeful and entirely open post-Cold War world order that we tried to build starting on November 9, 1989 – the day the Berlin Wall fell – ended on February 24 of this year.

In its place, we have entered a period of friend-shoring; one in which our allies know that it is worth strengthening their partnerships and building their supply chains with other democracies. Canada and the United States know this, too.

The good jobs and prosperity of today and tomorrow belong to the workers who are the heart of the world’s democracies – very much including those here in Canada and our neighbour to the south, the United States.

In our conversations today, Secretary Yellen and I covered a number of topics, including:

• The challenge of global inflation; the impacts it’s having on people on both sides of the border; and how we can work together to make life more affordable for middle-class Canadians and Americans alike;
• Canada’s wealth of critical minerals and metals and Canada’s role in ensuring energy security for our allies;
• What further action Canada and the United States can take to hold Russia accountable for its illegal invasion of Ukraine, and how we can work together to continue supporting Ukraine;
• Fighting climate change and the utility of border carbon adjustments;
• Strengthening our supply chains; and
• Advancing international tax fairness.

Again, it is wonderful to be here with you, Secretary Yellen.

Secretary Yellen is an excellent friend and partner of Canada. I have seen her in action as a real leader at the G7 and internationally, in the many meetings that we have attended together.

Secretary Yellen’s intellect and her deep knowledge and understanding of economic issues at this volatile time is universally acknowledged – and this is a time when that expertise and that leadership is more important than ever.

Thank you very much, Secretary Yellen, for your leadership. And I will now hand it over to you.