Freeland to give major foreign policy speech in D.C., make first trip since Trump Twitter attacks

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is meeting with the influential U.S. Senate foreign relations committee in Washington and is expected to give a major foreign policy speech later today.

She’s the first Canadian politician to set foot in Washington following the Trump administration’s personal attacks on Justin Trudeau this past weekend at the end of the G7 summit.

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The committee’s Republican chair, Sen. Bob Corker, is trying to gather support for legislation that would give U.S. Congress, not the president, the authority to impose tariffs under the national security clause of U.S. trade law.

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President Donald Trump has used the executive authority to impose potentially crippling steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico, the European Union and Japan.

Canada and its allies plan to impose retaliatory action by the end of the month on a broad range of consumer goods.

Trudeau incurred Trump’s Twitter wrath when he reiterated Canada’s opposition to the tariffs at the end of the G7 summit in Quebec on the weekend.