OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau downplayed concern over protectionist trade talk on the U.S. campaign trail as he announced he will host President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in June and boasted of progress on bilateral irritants.

In a wide-ranging news conference to mark his government’s six-month anniversary in power, Trudeau adopted a diplomatic silence over the rise of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP presidential candidate.

Trudeau said he looks forward to working closely with the next American president “regardless of who that may be” on issues of common interest like trade, economic growth and innovation — “things that we’re going to be able to line up on.”

“I think one of the things we see in any electoral campaign, including electoral campaigns here in Canada, is a bit of rhetoric around protectionism that tends to dissipate a little bit once the election has come and gone,” Trudeau told reporters.

During the 2008 U.S. primary campaign, then-Democratic nomination rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said they would renegotiate NAFTA, but once Obama was elected president and Clinton became his secretary of state, there was no bid to reopen the trade deal.

Still, Trump has amped up the rhetoric during the 2016 debates.

Before Sen. Ted Cruz suspended his campaign on Monday, effectively ceding the Republican presidential nomination race to his rival, Trump gave an interview to Breitbart News and turned his sights on Clinton and savaged the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“In fact, NAFTA, which was signed by her husband (Bill Clinton), is the worst economic development deal ever signed in the history of our country — trade deal, I guess you’d call it. The worst trade deal ever signed in the history of our country. It’s cleaned out vast portions of our manufacturing businesses and more,” said Trump.

Trump previously told a 60 Minutes interviewer: “We will either renegotiate it or we will break it.”

Trudeau told reporters Tuesday it is “always” important to protect “local jobs” and create economic growth for communities but said “in government, governments find an awful lot to agree on in terms of how to get that done.”

Trudeau made the comments as he announced he will revive the so-called summit of the “Three Amigos” — leaders of signatory nations to the NAFTA. It’s been more than two years since the summit was held. The last scheduled meeting in Canada was postponed by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper. Harper shelved it amid pipeline tensions with the U.S. and a bitter visa dispute with Mexico.

Trudeau said he expected to soon announce progress on the lifting of visas on Mexican visitors to Canada — a bilateral sticking point since 2009 when the Harper government slapped on visas to deter would-be illegal immigrants.

Trudeau claimed Tuesday his government has made “headway on a broad number of files” with Obama’s administration in the past six months “and will continue to do so.”

Prior to the June 29 summit in Ottawa of all three leaders, Trudeau will first receive Pena Nieto on a state visit to Canada June 27-28. The summit will be held at the National Art Gallery, an official said, not at a remote location as when Harper hosted George W. Bush and Vicente Fox at Montebello, Que.

As well, Trudeau has invited Obama to address Parliament at a special sitting on June 29. Parliament was scheduled to rise a week before that but could be recalled for the day, said a Trudeau spokeswoman.

Earlier Tuesday, in an open address to his Liberal caucus, Trudeau outlined what he saw as successes of his rookie government, urged his caucus and cabinet members not to become complacent and to continue to work hard.

He also defended his many travels abroad — which have drawn criticism from the Conservative Opposition — saying it is all part of trying to “ensure Canada is seen as a strong and active and valuable trading partner on the world stage, for drawing in investments, for highlighting Canadian products and produce around the world.”

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However, that job could get harder given campaign rhetoric in the U.S. from all parties.

On the Democrat side, candidate Bernie Sanders has called NAFTA an “abysmal failure” for US workers, while Hillary Clinton has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership – the massive Asia-Pacific trade deal which Canada and the U.S. have signed. She has in the past called NAFTA a “flawed deal” but has not made specific commitments during this campaign to reopen it.

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