‘I Applaud China for Stepping Up — Excuse Me, Canada’

President Joe Biden made an interesting flub in an address to the Canadian parliament on Friday, when he praised “China” before correcting himself and saying “Canada.”

Biden was trying to praise Canada for its cooperation in an agreement, signed Friday, to work together in turning economic migrants away from North America.

Biden: “Today, I applaud China for stepping up. Excuse me, Canada.” pic.twitter.com/khwGeV8hvR

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 24, 2023

Biden said (via White House transcript):

In the United States, we’re expanding legal pathways for migration to seek safety in humanitarian — on a humanitarian basis, while discouraging unlawful migration that feeds exploitation and human trafficking.

So, today I applaud China [sic] for stepping up — or, excuse me — I applaud Canada — (laughter) — I’m — you can tell what I’m thinking — (laughter) — about China.  I won’t get into that yet.

I applaud Canada for stepping up with similar programs, opening new legal pathways for 1,500 [15,000] migrants to come to Canada from countries in the Western Hemisphere.

At the same time, the United States and Canada will work together to discourage unlawful border crossings and fully implement in the updated Safe Third Country Agreement.  (Applause.)

Biden’s China ties have been under scrutiny lately — at least by House Republicans and conservative media outlets — because of millions of dollars in payments his family received in questionable Chinese business deals.

Canada’s own ties to China have been complicated by a recent scandal involving Chinese election interference.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.