IT'S ALL IN THE TIMING — The CEO of the Canadian American Business Council, SCOTTY GREENWOOD, calls it a "happy coincidence" that she was able to gather a high-powered room of cross-border corporate and government luminaries on the eve of the first North American Leaders Summit in five years. Here's what we know for sure. CABC's annual State of the Relationship gala was planned well in advance of U.S. President JOE BIDEN's formal invitation to JUSTIN TRUDEAU and Mexican President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR to meet him in Washington. And Greenwood is a well-connected player in town. Are there really coincidences? — Case in point: Trudeau's trade minister, MARY NG, opened the show on the top floor of the luxe Hay-Adams hotel, where the outdoor balcony offers the best view of the White House in the city. Ng laid it on pretty thick with a nod to her host: "The only thing more reliable than the Canada-U.S. relationship is Scotty Greenwood," she said. Ng then teed up her boss, who delivered standard boilerplate about the relationship. His parting words earned a chuckle: "Canada and the U.S. are the two bestest of friends." SPOTTED: Future ambassador and Ottawa resident DAVID COHEN, a former Comcast executive who'll soon take up residence in Rockcliffe Park, standing at the back of the room before ducking out.… Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY, who met counterpart ANTONY BLINKEN on the weekend before he jetted off to Africa.… Border congressman BRIAN HIGGINS, who stopped in during a busy evening on the town (more on Higgins later).… Journalists ALEX PANETTA (CBC) and RICHARD MADDEN (CTV).… FLAVIO VOLPE, the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.… MAURA KEEFE, former chief of staff to Sen. JEANNE SHAHEEN. — Also spotted: CHRISTOPHER SANDS , director of the Wilson Center's Canada Institute (more on that below, too).... LAURA DAWSON, formerly of the Wilson Institute and now of the Amazon Web Services Institute.… CHARLES SHAPIRO, a retired diplomat and once the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.… JEAN-FRANÇOIS HOULD, the head of Quebec's office in Washington.… ALEXI DRUCKER , Alberta's senior business development officer in the city.... JAKE CARNES, who works for Supreme Court Justice AMY CONEY BARRETT. THE FIRST STOP — Trudeau ended his evening at the Hay-Adams, but he had himself a day. After his plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday morning, Trudeau headed to a panel at the Wilson Center's Canada Institute, a think tank that indulges Canada's desire for a piece of the discourse in the capital. The PM brought key cabmins: Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND, Trade Minister MARY NG and Public Safety Minister MARCO MENDICINO. Playbook is reliably informed the event came together in only a week. Pro s can read ZI-ANN LUM's report on the event here: Trudeau: U.S. can’t take on ‘unavoidable’ China by itself. ON THE HILL — Next up was a trip to Capitol Hill. As Trudeau's entourage sailed past security gates just before 2:30, he provoked a reaction from a group of chanting student-protesters from American University. They noticed the flags on the motorcade and pivoted their "Build Back Better" chant to "Stop Line 3" — a reminder to the PM, if he noticed, that his pipeline advocacy hasn't gone unnoticed by America's progressive left. ("We can't just pick and choose," MARGARET MEAD of the Sunrise Movement told Playbook. "We have to have no fossil fuels or no future.") — Next up, Congress: Trudeau brought Freeland, Hillman and Ng into a meeting at the walnut-paneled Rayburn Room with House Speaker NANCY PELOSI, minority leader KEVIN MCCARTHY and a bipartisan gang of congresspeople. Some of the others in the room for the Americans: Higgins, SUZAN DELBENE, GREGORY MEEKS, BENNIE THOMPSON, RICHARD NEAL, ELISE STEFANIK, KEVIN BRADY, MICHAEL MCCAUL and BILL HUIZENGA. — Key takeaways: The gathering lasted an hour and change. As he walked out of the room, Higgins distilled its main themes for Playbook. He opened with a familiar priority: "bipartisan support for discontinuation of the testing requirement" at the border. On a Biden administration proposal to offer tax incentives to American electric vehicle manufacturers — which the Canadian side sees as protectionist and damaging — Higgins said only that "those issues can get worked out." He alluded to helping carve out a deal as a member of the House ways and means subcommittee. THREE AMIGOS DAY — Biden meets jointly in person with López Obrador and Trudeau today for the first time since taking office, and he’ll need to do more than just not be DONALD TRUMP. — The assignment: POLITICO’s SABRINA RODRIGUEZ and ANDY BLATCHFORD report: “For Biden, the trilateral summit — the first since 2016 — will be an exercise in building back trust and making headway on some of the thorniest issues among the countries, including migration challenges, trade irritants and charting a path for regional economic recovery from the pandemic.” ROOM > ZOOM — Canadian ambassador KIRSTEN HILLMAN says the Three Amigos summit has been a long time coming (murmurs about making it happen have festered since Biden took office) but planning sped up more recently. "It's been about a month of really starting to plan in earnest, but it wasn't actually decided until quite recently that it was going to be able to happen." Playbook got a peek inside Hillman's office at the Canadian embassy ahead of today's trilateral. Suffice to say the melodrama meets visitors at the ambassador's door. Large windows frame the U.S. Capitol (which totally steals the show). As if that's not enough, anyone who enters must stash their cell phones in a locker. We get it. This room should be seen to be important. In fairness, it is. Canadians in town list go-to factoids about the embassy. Top of the list: Of all the envoys in town, only Canada's works between the Capitol and the White House, just a few minutes' drive down Pennsylvania Avenue. — Hillman's view: Count on a diplomat to talk up the potential of the face-to-face-to-face meeting. “We've all survived through Zoom, but nothing can replace people sitting down together and having a free-flowing, honest conversation,” Hillman told Playbook. You can read our Q+A here. Without question, Hillman has logged Zoom time managing the closure and eventual reopening of the U.S.-Canada border, the battle for PPE, the end of Keystone XL, the start of Buy American and the return of the two Michaels. She advises Playbook that things that affect Canada and Canadians don’t always come out of the White House. Like Line 5, she says — just for example. “The good news is that we have 12 offices across this country." SPEAKING OF LINE 5 — In an exclusive for Pro s this morning, ZI-ANN LUM and BEN LEFEBVRE report on efforts Enbridge is taking to sway voters in Michigan on the safety of the controversial cross-border Line 5 pipeline. The Calgary-based energy firm launched attack ads earlier this year targeting Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER, who campaigned in 2018 to shut down the pipeline. Her fight against Enbridge has since escalated, now involving the Canadian government and the Biden administration. Michigan’s gubernatorial election is scheduled for next November. Energy prices and the outcome of pipeline treaty talks between the U.S. and Canada — following Whitmer’s attempt to shutter Line 5 — are poised to be potential factors in the race. Energy security will certainly come up today, but the topic of Line 5 won’t likely rank high at a trilateral with a stacked agenda prioritizing discussion on pandemic management, addressing migration issues and economic cooperation. BECAUSE USMCA BEGINS WITH U.S. — In another feature for Pro s this morning, GAVIN BADE and ANDY BLATCHFORD report that even as Biden hopes to rebuild strained ties with Canada and Mexico, his biggest obstacle may be his own domestic economic and political agenda. Leaders are expected to announce agreements to ease the supply chain crunch, speed vaccine distribution to countries in the region and curtail methane emissions that worsen climate change, a senior White House official says. But trade leaders in all three nations say Biden’s policies to rebuild American manufacturing risk alienating continental neighbors and derailing regional cooperation. THE TRADE TITAN WHO’S NOT IN TOWN — One heavyweight missing from today’s NAFTA reunion: Canada’s newly retired chief negotiator STEVE VERHEUL. The former assistant deputy minister of trade policy and negotiations at Global Affairs Canada played “vital” roles negotiating CETA, CPTPP and the new NAFTA. The Toronto Star once called Verheul “the most important Canadian you’ve (probably) never heard of.” — The show goes on: International Trade Minister MARY NG shared some quick words about Verheul’s legacy with POLITICO last week when she was in Geneva. “While we will miss Steve — and his contribution is extraordinary — I would also say that there are incredible professionals that are leading the civil service efforts on my behalf and on the Government of Canada.” | 
