Ukraine and Google playing Justin Trudeau's 'sock game'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is well known for his style, and his colourful - sometimes themed - socks.

When Ukraine's trade representative, Nataliya Mykolska, visited Mr Trudeau she took the opportunity to contribute to his collection of - what broadcasting platform Ukrinform has called - "unusual socks".

Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade tweeted a photo of her special delivery from Ukraine's PM Volodymyr Groysman, intended for Mr Trudeau as part of a promotion of trade relations between the two countries.

Commentators appeared to be split on whether it is an appropriate present for a head of government.

As photos circulated of the two leaders, a Facebook post by Ukrainian news website Hromadske.ua spurred a mixed response about Mr Trudeau's footwear.

Kateryna Krotkova, who spotted a familiar brand, was happy she "has something in common with Justin now".

"Did they just give sweat socks to the prime minister? Wow, cool," said Sergiy Petrakov with some sarcasm.

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This is not the first time Mr Trudeau's socks have been in the spotlight. At the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Mr Trudeau's socks did not go unnoticed in his Instagram post in July.

Sometimes, leaders who meet Mr Trudeau reciprocate. Irish Taiseach Leo Varadkar engaged in some "sock diplomacy" in his first meeting with his counterpart in Dublin in July.

On Thursday, at an event to promote US-Canada relations 'GoNorth17' Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt, now Executive Chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, acknowledged Mr Trudeau's socks as "always outlandish" and wore Canadian socks, which prompted them to compare at around 5:30 into their discussion.

"Everyone says to compare socks," Mr Trudeau told the audience. "It never bothers me when people have better socks than I do, because they're playing my sock game."

Mr Trudeau has definitely got into the spirit of things for special occasions, showing off his Star Wars socks on 4 May - for #MayTheFourthBeWithYou:

Of course, there were his rainbow socks at Toronto Pride:

And another Star Wars pair - Chewbacca this time - for a business forum in New York:

If you can't get enough of Mr Trudeau's socks, there is even a dedicated Facebook page.