Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invented a word to describe what happened in Ottawa on Wednesday during the Three Amigos Summit — “dudeplomacy.”

Groanworthy as it may be, it’s not far from capturing the air of brotherly love between Trudeau, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, as evidenced by an awkward three-way handshake that made headlines across the continent.

Photos: The Three Amigos join forces in historic visit

The three world leaders got down to business during the historic meeting, the first one Canada has hosted in about a decade. They signed a comprehensive North American climate, clean energy and environment partnership and committed themselves to better protecting the LGBT community.

During a joint press conference, each leader denounced the isolationism of Brexit and the “demagoguery” of politicians like Donald Trump, although they were careful not to directly challenge his candidacy.

But bromance burned brightest at the very end, after Pena Nieto went home, when Obama addressed the House of Commons.

“Thank you for this extraordinary welcome, which tempts me to just shut up and leave because it can’t get any better than this,” Obama began.

But continue he did, for a full 50 minutes, touching on everything from equal pay for women and climate change to economic justice.

When he was finished, the floor erupted into a chorus of “Four more years! Four more years!”

Obama delivers address to rapturous Parliament

In the wake of Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, Obama’s speech reaffirmed the role that Canada and the United States can play to promote progressive social and economic policies in a globalized society.

“We must not waver in embracing our values, our best selves, our histories as nations of immigrants,” he said.

Obama cautioned that isolationism is not a solution to economic problems, and he chastised politicians who take advantage of the public’s real concerns about growing inequality and poverty by playing on their xenophobia.

“Even if we wanted to, we can’t seal ourselves off from the world,” he said.

It clearly went over well with parliamentarians, who gave standing ovation after standing ovation. Obama praised Canadian troops, and the co-operation between the two countries during the Iraq war.

“We will destroy the terrorist group ISIL, we will destroy them,” Obama said, referring to Daesh.

“The world needs more Canada,” Obama said, taking a moment to demand that Canada contribute more money to NATO.

It wasn’t all serious though. Obama thanked Canada for helping to broker negotiations between Cuba and America, and cheekily jabbed at this country’s penchant for cheap tropical vacations.

“I know a lot of Canadians like going to Cuba, maybe because they haven’t had Americans crowding the streets and beaches. But that’s changing,” he joked.

He also used his speech to solidify his much-covered friendship with Trudeau, commenting on their shared commitment towards building a better world for their children.

“A country is something that is built everyday out of shared values,” he said, twice, quoting Trudeau’s father.

On populism:

Obama went a bit off-script toward the end of the joint press conference, choosing to go on a “rant” — his own words — about the misunderstanding of the word “populism.” Pena Nieto and the media had repeatedly referred to Trump’s style of leadership and the anti-immigration sentiments of Brexit as populist.

“I’m not prepared to concede the notion that some of the rhetoric popping up is populist,” he said.

Obama said his electoral victory, based on a platform about improving the lives of workers and lower and middle-class people, proves that “populism” is not a synonym for “cynicism.”

“Somebody else, who has never shown any regard for workers . . . they don’t suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes. That’s not the definition of populism, that’s nativism or xenophobia, or worse,” he said.

“Let’s just be clear, somebody who labels us versus them, or engages in rhetoric about how we’re going to look out for ourselves and take it to the other guy, that’s not the definition of populism. Sorry.”

Joint press conference

“The tone of the meeting was friendly, as you might expect among friends,” Trudeau said, kicking off the press conference.

Trudeau opened with their agreement to protect LGBTQ rights in the wake of Orlando, and then announced the new North American climate, clean energy and environment partnership.

“Cooperation pays off. Working together always beats going alone,” he said.

Although no concrete details have been released, Trudeau said all countries agreed they need to do a better job protecting human rights, and combating drug and human trafficking.

Pena Nieto said the visit was a success.

“We’re going back to Mexico with memories of the warm welcome that the Canadian people showed us in Quebec, Toronto and Ottawa,” he said.

On whether the climate change and clean energy agreement will make Canada a major exporter of green energy to the U.S. and Mexico, Obama said the U.S. is interested in Canada’s clean energy, but wasn’t ready to put all its eggs in one basket.

Two topics — Brexit and Donald Trump’s contentious election campaign — dominated the conference. While no one explicitly disparaged Trump, all three leaders warned about “demagogues” who think they can rule by appealing to people’s basic instincts.

Obama said the concerns that voters who supported Brexit raised were fair — it is getting harder for workers — but that leaving the EU will only make matters worse.

“You are right to be concerned about the trends, but what you’re prescribing will not work,” he said.

Who’s who during Obama’s address

Guests at Obama's address

Barack Obama is scheduled to give an address to the House of Commons around 5:30 p.m., later than scheduled due to the length of the earlier press conference. More than 200 guests, including many prominent politicians, diplomats and business people, have been invited.

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Canadian celebrities — such as Nelly Furtado, and the Tragically Hip’s Gordon Sinclair and Robert Baker — made the cut, as did Megan Follows, who played Anne of Green Gables on the CBC show, and Ashley Burnham, the first Canadian aboriginal woman to win Mrs. Universe.

Hola, Amigos

The three world leaders posed for a “family photo” with Parliament Hill in the background. The trio even attempted some sort of awkward, three-way handshake in order to solidify the nations’ brotherhood, or something, but it wasn’t executed quite as smoothly as they may have hoped.

Earlier, during the plenary meeting, place cards poked fun at North American spelling differences by referring to Obama as “honorable” and Trudeau as “honourable.”

Pushing for stronger LGBTQ rights

Canada, the United States and Mexico pledged to do more to protect LGBTQ rights both in North America and abroad.

The three countries agreed that after Orlando, LGBTQ safety must be a priority.

Leaders announce North America clean energy partnership

Shortly after convening the summit, the three leaders announced that they had entered into a North American climate, clean energy and environment partnership.

The deal had long been a dream, and solidifies clean energy targets for all three countries for the next decade, including:

50 per cent clean power generation by 2025 across the continent

Reduce methane emissions by 40-45 per cent by 2025

Align fuel efficiency and/or GHG emission standards for light- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2025 and 2027, respectively

Work together to protect North America’s eastern Monarch butterfly populations by conserving habitats by 2020

Collaborate with Indigenous communities on issues that impact the environment

Implement the Paris Agreement across the continent, phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, limit temperature rise to below 2 C

The three amigos meet

Obama, Pena Nieto and Trudeau strode side by side through the National Gallery of Canada shortly after Obama arrived in Ottawa.

Trudeau tweeted that their goals will be to “ensure a clean and prosperous future for all North Americans.” Growing the clean energy sector across the continent is said to be a top priority for today’s summit. Their stated goals are to reduce methane emissions and have clean power account for 50 per cent of power generation across North America by 2025.

Obama’s plane landed in Ottawa at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, and he was greeted on the tarmac by Governor General David Johnston and the Ceremonial Guard.

Pena Nieto arrived in Ottawa on Monday, after visiting both Quebec City and Toronto. He departs Ottawa late this afternoon; Obama and Trudeau will both address the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.

On the agenda

The last time the three North America leaders got together for such a visit was in 2014 in Toluca Mexico, when Stephen Harper was prime minister.

Wednesday’s meeting was expected to be significantly warmer than last time, when Harper was unwilling to budge on Mexican visa restrictions to Canada and Obama kept mum on whether he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline was officially rejected last November, but all signs point to a chummier get-together this time around.

At a joint press conference on Tuesday, Trudeau and Pena Nieto announced that contentious restrictions limiting Mexican nationals’ travel in Canada would be lifted by Dec. 1. In return, Mexico will open their markets to all Canadian beef exports later this year.

And since Trudeau’s state visit to Washington D.C. in March, relations between the U.S. and Canada have been downright bro-tastic, with the two world leaders frequently trading friendly barbs in the press.

With files from Alex Boutilier and Bruce Campion-Smith

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