‘Great news’: Trudeau welcomes Biden running again for U.S. president

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is welcoming U.S. President Joe Biden’s plans to run for re-election in 2024, calling it “great news.”

Reporters asked the prime minister on his way in to a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill on Tuesday what he thought of Biden’s announcement.

“Obviously I think it’s great news that president Biden has confirmed that he’s going to continue,” Trudeau said. “This is a leader that is needed, not just by the United States, but by the world, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with him for many years.”

Biden’s re-election run confirmation came in the form of a three-minute video released Tuesday morning, asking Americans to let him and the Democrats “finish the job” decrying Republican “extremists” while footage plays of Biden during his first term as president.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we’re in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are. The question we’re facing is whether, in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer. I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too,” Biden said in the video.

“This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election.”

Last month Biden visited Canada, where he addressed Parliament and agreed with Trudeau on tackling a number of cross-border irritants while emphasising the importance of shared values to shared prosperity.