NATO meeting on Ukraine postponed after Biden drops out for Hurricane Milton

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s overseas diplomatic duties have been knocked off course by Hurricane Milton.

A high-level strategic meeting of Ukraine’s allies focused on ending the war, scheduled for Saturday in Germany, has been postponed after U.S. President Joe Biden announced he would not be attending.

Biden says he’s staying in the United States in order to marshal emergency resources for Americans caught in the path of the massive storm.

Biden was supposed to host the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein, Germany.

As many as 50 leaders of NATO countries and other allies were expected to gather to hear Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy present his “victory plan” to force Russia into negotiating for peace. A new date for the gathering has yet to be determined.

Trudeau was to travel to Ramstein after he attended the biannual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Canada is a strategic partner of the regional block.

The postponement was confirmed just as the prime minister landed in Vientiane, Laos, after 24 hours of travel.

Over the next two days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will discuss strengthening economic ties with the 10 ASEAN leaders as a group and in one-on-one meetings.

Canada is currently negotiating a free-trade deal in the region to build on a relationship that brought in more than $38.5 billion in trade last year.

Increasing trade with ASEAN is part of Canada’s long-term strategy to be less dependent on Chinese goods, in order to counter-balance China’s influence.

There are areas where political tensions could arise. Several nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which have majority-Muslim populations, have been critical of the West for its continued support of Israel’s war against Hamas which has devastated Gaza.

On the margins of the ASEAN summit, Trudeau will also meet with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand’s Christopher Luxon. New Zealand and Australia are not ASEAN members, but over the past year, Trudeau has issued two joint statements with his fellow commonwealth prime ministers calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.