WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he would press China’s president Xi Jinping to release two detained Canadians when he meets with him next week at the G20 summit, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat listening.

Trudeau was respectful, but eyed his host warily as Trump responded to reporters’ questions in the Oval Office during a photo opportunity about the fallout from Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer.

Trudeau’s third official meeting in Washington with the unpredictable president went as well as any Canadian official had expected, and the main takeaway was the apparent restoration of normal relations between Trudeau and Trump after last year’s disastrous G7 meeting in Charlevoix.

As if to confirm the Canadian team’s view expressed privately to reporters, Trump tweeted afterward it was his “great honor” to host the Canadian prime minister. Trump’s tone stood in stark contrast to his insulting tweets last year that Trudeau was meek, mild, weak and dishonest.

Trump said he will meet with Xi in Osaka next week and would make a request that China release the detained Canadians if asked, or “at Justin’s request.”

“I will represent him well. We have a meeting set up with President Xi and it’s obviously on the big transaction that we’re talking about and negotiatin … but anything that I can do to help Canada, I will be doing,” said Trump.

At his own news conference later in the day, Trudeau said he went on to have an “extended conversation” with Trump and senior Administration officials about the plight of Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor and other “challenges that China is presenting, not just to Canada, but to different sectors of the global economy, and we certainly agree to continue to work together as friends and allies to resolve these and other issues.”

Pressed about whether Trump committed to any concrete action on Canada’s behalf, Trudeau was cautious.

“We absolutely expect the subject of the two Canadians who are detained in an arbitrary and unfair manner in China will be on the agenda,” Trudeau said in French.

“We expect that all our allies — and that’s what they’ve done by the way across the world not just the Americans — but many of our allies have raised with the Chinese authorities and leadership … it is unacceptable … that they have detained two Canadians in an unfair and arbitrary manner.”

Trudeau declined to say whether he asked Trump to drop the extradition request or charges against Meng, who is daughter of the founder of Huawei, the jewel in China’s corporate crown, saying only that Canada adhere’s to the rule of law. “We respect our partnerships and our agreements, including on extradition, with the United States.”

Former Canadian ambassador to China, David Mulroney, said it was “not bad” as an outcome for Trudeau, “but it’s the second best outcome.”

“We need to keep working on the Americans until they see it as within their own interest to do the right thing and press for the release of the two Canadians as an American objective, not simply a favour to Canada.

“The U.S. has a big stake in combating Chinese pressure against America’s own western allies.”

Three senior Canadian officials separately said that the conversation on China with Trump went well. One referred to the circumstances as “very delicate.”

Trump welcomed Trudeau to the Oval Office, calling him a “friend” and saying they would have a “positive day.” In a photo opportunity, Trump took several questions, some on the prospects for ratification of the new NAFTA, which Trump calls by its American acronym USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement).

Trump, who has criticized Chrystia Freeland’s frequent meetings on Capitol Hill during the NAFTA negotiations, said Trudeau’s plan to speak to members of Congress about ratifying the new NAFTA is “a terrific thing.

“I have to get the Democrats to approve it, so I like your positive thinking. But if — and the if is really subject to the Democrats, let’s see what happens — but I really believe that Nancy Pelosi and the House will approve it, I think the senate will approve it rapidly. It’s going to be very bipartisan.”

Trump did not rule out any further tariffs against Canada and Mexico, saying “they have to do what they have to do.”

He said if there are any “tremendous shipments of certain products” into U.S. markets, he might revive them, appearing to refer to cheap foreign imports, such as steel that other countries, such as China, might try to divert into the U.S. via Canada.

Trump said, “there won’t be, hopefully, transshipping. If there’s transshipping, I’ll call Justin and I’m sure he’ll take care of it. And if he doesn’t take — I’ll probably call him a second time. And if he doesn’t, then we’ll have to talk, right?”

Trudeau gestured with his palms down as if to tamp down any worries: “We’re going to be fine.”

Trudeau later acknowledged there are trade irritants and worries, including duties on Canadian softwood lumber exports and the possibility Trump will impose tariffs on Canadian uranium exports.

Trudeau was vague about how he would deal with the possibility of any changes that Democrats might negotiate with the Administration to the NAFTA deal, stressing only that he does not want to see “a good deal” reopened.

“We are concerned that any reopening of NAFTA could lead to not just lengthy further negotiation we all were quite pleased were behind us, but also might lead to worse outcomes for Canadians and for Canada.”

The possibility remains that Parliament could be recalled in late July or early August to deal with the ratification. Legislation in Canada has merely passed its early stages, and has been sent for study by committee.

Still the Liberals were feeling confident about how Trudeau handled the meetings with Trump.

A fourth senior official told the Star that overall, it was a good day for Trudeau, as Parliament recesses, ahead of a fall election.

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“If the ballot question was who do you trust to stand up to the U.S. president, I’m good with that,” he said.

Conservative foreign affairs critic Erin O’Toole said he was glad the president will engage directly on the China crisis. “After six months, it is clear Trudeau cannot get China engaged without the help of the U.S.”

But O’Toole sounded a note of caution. “The President speculated about tariffs again, which is unsettling. The fact that the Liberals put C-100 (the new NAFTA bill) on hold shows they are uncertain on the status of the USMCA.”

Trudeau saying he had good meetings with leadership from both sides of the House of Representatives, including with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat majority leader. But he refused to be drawn into specifics about the Democrats’ demands for changes to environmental and labour enforcement or longer drug patent protections in the new trade deal.

“We had a very frank and positive conversation about the path forward to creating better opportunities for citizens, for workers on both sides of our border.

“I fully respect the conversations and discussions going on in their ratification process and offered to be helpful in responding or allaying certain fears. But Canada is not going to get involved in the ratification process that the American congress needs to go through,” he said.

Many of the questions thrown at Trump involved the downing by Iran of an unmanned U.S. drone, which Trump claimed was over international waters.

The president suggested there would be retaliation, but he refused to specify what measures he’d take, calling it a “very bad mistake” that was made “by a very stupid person.”

Trudeau said “we are very concerned about the escalation by Iran,” pointing to Canadians in the anti-Daesh mission in Iraq.

Replying to a question by the Toronto Star, Trump said he may invite the Toronto Raptors to visit the White House.

“They played phenomenal basketball. I watched a little bit of it. They were really terrific. Congratulations, by the way! So that was a great job by a great team, so we’ll think about that. If they’d like to do it, we’ll think about that.”

The two leaders appeared relaxed as they sat together. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security advisor John Bolton and Trump’s press secretary Sarah Sanders looked on.

That the meeting was held was a signal that the diplomatic chill has thawed. The two leaders met at noon in the Oval Office for their first one-on-one sit-down since last June’s summit notoriously imploded over then-stalled NAFTA talks and Trump’s steel-and-aluminum tariffs.

Last spring, Trump’s tariffs, which were lifted last month, overshadowed the deal reached by Canada, U.S. and Mexico to modernize free trade rules and soured Trudeau and Trump’s G7 summit talks.

While Trump and Trudeau disagree strongly on major international issues such as climate change, a senior U.S. official said they can work well together on many others, amid rising tensions with Russia, China and Iran.

“We need Canada,” said the American official, pointing to defence co-operation between the two countries on a range of issues.

Trump adviser Kelly Anne Conway; Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin; a number of U.S. senators and members of Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ leader in the House of Representatives; IMF head Christine Lagarde; industry representatives, and Mexico’s ambassador in Washington attended a small reception the Canadian embassy hosted Wednesday evening that was closed to media. A Canadian official said 50 to 100 people attended the event which lasted a little more than an hour.

With the new NAFTA deal now ratified by Mexico, Trump and Trudeau want to see it sealed and delivered in their own countries before it can take effect.

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