Jake Sullivan heads to Canada on national security trip

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to travel Sunday to Canada where he will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reinforce the U.S.-Canada relationship on various security issues, the White House announced Sunday.

Sullivan’s meeting with Trudeau, along with an address to Canada’s annual Cabinet retreat, will discuss national security priorities including continued defense of Ukraine, the climate crisis and the “advancement of democracy and human rights around the world,” National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement.

The Canadian prime minister’s office said Sullivan will take part in the Cabinet retreat Sunday night in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The U.S. and Canada share what officials have touted as one of the closest relationships in the world, underscored by high bilateral trade between the bordering countries. They also have worked together in efforts to combat terrorist financing and money laundering.

The Hill reached out to the NSC for further comment.

Trudeau, like President Biden, has been a longtime supporter of Ukraine and has provided the embattled nation with military, economic and humanitarian assistance.

The visit comes ahead of a Tuesday trip to China, where Sullivan will discuss key global issues and seek to set up another meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a senior Biden administration official said.

Sullivan’s trip to Beijing, which will last through Thursday, makes him the first national security adviser to travel to China since 2016, the official added. He will address topics including tensions in the South China Sea, the conflicts in the Middle East and China’s provision of nonlethal technology to Russia for its war with Ukraine.

While overseas, he is also slated to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, director of the Communist Party foreign affairs commission office, whom he’s worked with in the past for other Biden-Xi meetings.

Contention between the U.S. and China has flared up in recent years on multiple issues — including the U.S. government’s sanctions on Chinese citizens and officials, restricted import of Chinese semiconductors, debate over the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, and Taiwan.

Both sides have signaled an easing of some of the tension, however, and Biden last December said his meeting with Xi produced “positive steps.”

Updated at 4:24 pm.