Jen Psaki: ‘Couple of Months’ Before Joe Biden Meets with Foreign Leaders In-Person

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that it would be a couple of months before President Joe Biden would welcome foreign leaders to meet at the White House, even though he has been vaccinated for the coronavirus.

“I would anticipate for all of you that it will be a couple of months before the president has an in-person or invites a foreign leader to meet in-person here at the White House,” Psaki said during the White House press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

Psaki was asked by a reporter about a comment in January from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office that Joe Biden had agreed to meet with the prime minister in February.

“You can meet over video as we all know,” Psaki replied when reporters asked about the timing of the meeting with Trudeau. She did not reveal any more details of any planned meetings, either virtual or in-person.

Biden received his first coronavirus vaccine shot in December and his second shot in January.

Typically, American presidents meet with the Canadian Prime minister shortly after their inauguration. Former President Donald Trump met with Trudeau for the first time on February 13, 2017.

Additionally, Trump repeatedly met with foreign leaders during the coronavirus pandemic.

He also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the leaders of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates at the same time in September 2020 as they signed the Abraham Accords at the White House.

But Psaki said that Biden would continue a different path in his foreign policy agenda.

“I can assure that this president is not looking to the last presidency for the model of his foreign policy moving forward,” Psaki said. “President Biden has been working in the global arena for decades.”