--- title: Justin Trudeau: Read President Obama's Toast at State Dinner description: He cracked jokes about Ted Cruz and Justin Bieber. canonical: https://time.com/4255175/barack-obama-justin-trudeau-state-dinner-canada-toast/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T04:23:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:49:20.765Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Toast to Justin Trudeau og:description: He cracked jokes about Ted Cruz and Justin Bieber. og:url: https://time.com/4255175/barack-obama-justin-trudeau-state-dinner-canada-toast/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3428 og:image:height: 1928 og:image:alt: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the USA - White House State Dinner Reception og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Toast to Justin Trudeau twitter:description: He cracked jokes about Ted Cruz and Justin Bieber. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Toast to Justin Trudeau > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 11, 2016 4:23 AM UTC  President Barack Obama, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau exchange toasts during a state dinner at the White House, in Washington, DC, March 10, 2016. President Barack Obama, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau exchange toasts during a state dinner at the White House, in Washington, DC, March 10, 2016. Olivier Douliery—Pool/EPA by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 11, 2016 4:23 AM UTC President Obama had some fun [giving a toast](http://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/) to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a state dinner Thursday. From cracking a joke about Canadian-born Sen. Ted Cruz to relating a telling anecdote about Trudeau’s father, Obama was clearly having a good time. 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