Washington

As part of his first act in the White House, President Joe Biden formally revoked the Keystone XL oil pipeline which was blocked by former President Obama in 2015 due to environmental concerns but was reversed by Donald Trump in 2017.

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The 1,947-kilometer) oil pipeline was supposed to transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from the Alberta oil sands to Nebraska and from there to Texas.

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Canadian regulators had approved the project back in 2010, but President Biden had said it was "very, very high pollutant".

The $8 billion project had Trudeau's support even before he became prime minister with the Keystone XL pipeline running between Canada and the United States.

"While we welcome the president's commitment to fight climate change, we are disappointed but acknowledge the President's decision to fulfill his election campaign promise on Keystone XL," Trudeau said in a statement while welcoming President Biden's move to rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change. 

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"I look forward to working with President Biden to reduce pollution," the Canadian PM added even though he had pressed the American President to reverse his stance.

"I brought up this issue in my very first conversation with president-elect Biden before Christmas," Trudeau had told a news conference, adding, "Over the past number of days and continuing today, we are communicating our arguments in favour of Keystone XL directly to the highest levels of this (US) administration."

However, Trudeau's persistence did not pay as the new US president blocked the Keystone XL pipeline fiercely opposed by environmentalists but backed by the Canadian government.