Canadian cabinet ministers are fanning throughout the U.S. capital this week to meet members of the new Trump administration, laying the groundwork for an anticipated visit by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as well as the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Three ministers have meetings in Washington this week: Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland landed Tuesday for a two-day visit, just after her colleague Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan left town and before Finance Minister Bill Morneau was to arrive Wednesday.

Those meetings are taking place as the national governments prepare for a first encounter between Trudeau and new President Donald Trump, which could happen as early as next week. The governments are still nailing down details of a meeting agenda before settling on an official date.

Freeland began by visiting Capitol Hill and the highest-ranking member of the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan...

Freeland is meeting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, as well as the ranking Democrat on the foreign relations committee, Sen. Ben Cardin.

Tillerson, the longtime chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, was sworn in as secretary of state last week and he and Freeland spoke by phone on his first day on the job.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau will also be in Washington to meet some "newly appointed" Trump cabinet members as well as members of Congress.

But his soon-to-be opposite number, financier Steven Mnuchin, won't be among them, because he has yet to be confirmed as treasury secretary...

This was excerpted from 8 February 2017 edition of the CBC News.