President Joe Biden receives Canadian chocolate as a gift (VIDEO)
World leaders — they’re just like us! President Joe Biden couldn’t resist a sweet treat after he received a Canadian bar of chocolate as a gift.
Biden’s brief visit to Canada has certainly been eventful.
While in Ottawa on Friday, Green Party leader Elizabeth May gave Biden a chocolate bar wrapped in yellow paper with the word “Peace.”
“I love chocolate,” Biden said.
(According to New York magazine, POTUS does appear to have a bit of a sweet tooth: he’s ditched the Obama-era “basket of apples” in favour of saltwater taffy and his favourite chocolate chip cookies.)
Watch the moment below:
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So when he sat down to sign a guest book, he made sure to hand it to Trudeau. As he left, he turned around and asked, “Oh, by the way, where is my chocolate?”
As he walked away, chocolate in hand, Biden turned to reporters and quipped, “Depending on how tough the questions are, you can share this chocolate with me.”
It’s not the first time a Canadian politician gave a Peace by Chocolate bar as a gift. In 2019, Trudeau gave US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a similar gift.
Watching Biden leave with his chocolate was certainly a momentous occasion for Tareq Hadhad, founder and CEO of Nova Scotia-based company Peace by Chocolate.
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In a tweet, Hadhad thanks May for choosing their chocolate as a gift.
After the historic moment yesterday, I was able to thank my hero @ElizabethMay. Your gesture and gift to @POTUS is a moment our family will never, ever forget. Thank you for being a voice for the planet, for its people and for Peace. pic.twitter.com/h6BYGJ73YH
— Tareq Hadhad (@TareqHadhad) March 25, 2023
The company was founded by the Hadhad family, according to their website, who found themselves as refugees in Nova Scotia after fleeing Syria. The family owned a chocolate factory in Damascus, which was destroyed in a bombing in 2012.
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Now the company has an online store and two locations: one in Antigonish and the other in Halifax. They also hire refugees at their facilities across Canada.
There’s even a movie titled Peace by Chocolate that depicts the family’s struggle to establish their chocolate store in a new country. The movie premiered in 2021 at the Tribeca Film Festival and has an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hadhad had been invited by the Trudeaus for Biden’s Canadian visit. He posted the video on his Facebook page with the caption, “Absolutely INCREDIBLE.”
You can find Peace by Chocolate products on their website.
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