President Joe Biden meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, in Washington. (AP Picture/Evan Vucci)
OTTAWA --
Presents by heads of state to different world leaders aren't only a gesture of friendship, however a instrument of diplomacy, fastidiously chosen by protocol advisers to replicate the recipient's style.
So when President Joe Biden gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a pair of gold-framed aviator sun shades on the Three Amigos North American summit final November, his protocol crew little question knew that Canada's prime minister has a penchant for sporting shades.
What Trudeau may not have identified when he was handed the polarized sun shades in a case stamped with the White Home insignia, was that solely months earlier than Biden had given the very same pair to Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguably the U.S. president's best adversary on the world stage.
Biden gave Putin a pair of the 23-karat-framed aviator shades at a summit in Geneva, Switzerland, in June, the primary time the 2 presidents met.
Andrew Sabl, professor of political science on the College of Toronto, mentioned the duplication of items was "awkward" however most likely the fault of the White Home protocol workplace.
"There's a sure awkwardness in having achieved that, even when it's not the president's fault," Sabl mentioned. "When the character within the film 'Scrooged' provides a shower towel to half of his Christmas listing and a video participant to the opposite half, that isn't meant as an instance wonderful interpersonal expertise."
Biden ceaselessly seems in aviator sun shades with black lenses, and Trudeau generally sports activities horn-rimmed shades in the summertime whereas sporting a go well with. Putin is best identified for posing in shades shirtless, together with on a horse.
Whereas Canada is America's closest ally, relations between the White Home and Kremlin have lengthy been strained, and in previous weeks have grown nonetheless extra fraught over Russia's construct up of troops on Ukraine's border.
Randolph, the U.S. engineering agency which made the aviator sun shades, provides them to U.S. Navy and air drive pilots. Its Massachusetts plant additionally makes some style strains. The Concorde aviators that Trudeau and Putin acquired promote for round US$300.
Sarah Fawle, a spokeswoman for Randolph, confirmed that Biden had given Putin the similar mannequin he had given Trudeau. She mentioned the agency had been requested by the White Home's protocol crew for a number of pairs of gold-framed Concorde aviators with polarized gray lenses, for official items.
"I'm certain Trudeau would look improbable in them," added Fawle.
Olivia Rodrigo, the teenager star of "Excessive Faculty Musical," was given the identical pair when she visited the White Home final summer time. Biden additionally gave her an ice cream scoop which the singer mentioned she at first mistook for a shoe horn.
Trudeau declared his sun shades and a watch that Biden gave him on the Three Amigos summit on the official register of items. MPs need to declare items price over $200 underneath Parliament's ethics guidelines and aren't allowed to simply accept any that is likely to be seen as inducements. Nonetheless, they could settle for items acquired as an expression of courtesy or protocol, together with at a summit.
The Prime Minister's Workplace declined to remark and the White Home didn't instantly reply to a request for a response.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 27, 2022.
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