Although Trudeau was the first world leader to call and congratulate Biden on winning the presidential election, the Tuesday exchange was the first official meeting between the two since Biden assumed office last month.

Trudeau thanked Biden "for stepping up in such a big way on tackling climate change," adding that "U.S. leadership has been sorely missed" in recent years. "As we're preparing for the joint rollout and communique from this one, it's nice when Americans aren't pulling out all references to climate change and, instead, adding them in," he said, apparently referring to the Trump administration's attitude toward climate policy.

Biden is expected to enjoy a warmer relationship with Trudeau than his predecessor, although it won't be seamless — there's already been friction over Biden nixing the expansion Keystone XL pipeline, a project favored by both Trump and Trudeau.