Why does Canada not already have a stronger relationship with Mexico?

With the tensions that warm up once again in Canada’s trade negotiations with the United States, and the Trump administration blaming the “elbows” approach, Canadian officials rush to establish new relationships, including with one of its nearest neighbors: Mexico.

The effort began at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta in June, in June, where Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to meet him in private, Foreign Minister Anita Anand said on Tuesday.

Anand is in the Mexican capital with the Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne to build a “bilateral economic relationship”.

But the trip encouraged some experts to ask why it did not happen earlier. Carney’s first trip abroad was to France and the United Kingdom, where he discussed not only to expand trade, but also to link security and invited King Charles to give the Throne’s speech.

While France and Great Britain are key allies, Mexico is a larger trading partner than these two countries, said Laura Macdonald, professor of political science at Carleton University.

“There is a historic reservations of Canada to engage seriously with Mexico,” said Macdonald. “And there is a tendency to fail when they try to work together.”

Anand and Champagne’s visit indicates a desire to change this, added Macdonald.

No bilateral trade agreement, known as Sheinbaum

While the two senior ministers met Sheinbaum for more than an hour and Champagne praised the talks as “quite extraordinary”, whoever hopes that they would leave with the creation of a bilateral trade agreement should not obtain their hopes.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum said that his meeting with Canadians was “very good”, but that there was “no need” a separate agreement. “We have the trade agreement with the United States, Canada and Mexico,” said Sheinbaum.

Anand wrote on X Wednesday that she and Champagne meet Mexican business leaders on the second day of their trip “to explore new opportunities and strengthen strategic partnerships”.

By highlighting the interrupted nature of Canada and Mexico, the relationship will work, said Macdonald.

Canadian companies were so used to prioritize American partners that there has been little efforts to, for example, learn Spanish or work to overcome other cultural barriers, she said.

“I do not think it was taken seriously as a modern and diversifying economy and I think it is short -sighted and depicts our kind of colonial spirit towards the world in general,” said Macdonald.

“Mexicans, similarly, I don’t know much in Canada and do not consider it a cold place and an extension of the United States.”

Look | “ Elbows up ” distinguishes Canada from Mexico in negotiations, says the American ambassador:

“ Energy in the room: ‘American ambassador on the reasons why no price extension for Canada

The prices on goods not in accordance with Canada CUSM are now 35% after US President Donald Trump raised them following a self-imposed deadline, while Mexico receives an extension of the negotiations in progress. The United States Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks to power and policy of different results and the current state of the cross-border relationship.

Macdonald was part of a Uniform Canadian Union project to join Mexican unions to help fight against work abuses in Mexico.

“It is important that Canada is considered to be part of solutions to inequality problems in Mexico … and not only to see it as a low -wage production site because it was somehow integrated into Alena and CUSMA,” said Macondald.

She noted that the arrangement had contributed to the United States and Canada that loses manufacturing jobs.

Stuart Bergman, Vice-President and Chief Export Economist Development Canada (EDC), pleaded to support Canada’s trade relations with Mexico.

In April, he wrote on the EDC website that only three percent of Canada’s bidirectional goods trade was awarded to Mexico, while the United States represents 70%. He said that part of the imports of goods in Mexico from China could be replaced by Canadian equivalent products, including cars and parts.

Canada-Mexico trade “well below the potential”

On Tuesday, the Business Council of Canada echoes the Bergman post, calling for the trade and commercial links of Canada (BCC) with the underdeveloped Mexico and well below its potential “.

Canada and Mexico buy less than three percent of the other’s global exports, wrote Shauna Hemingway, the BCC’s main special advisor on Mexico and the Americas.

And although Canadian investments in Mexico have increased “spectacularly” since 2010, Mexican investments in Canada has stalled at 3.1 billion US dollars in 2023, she said.

“Our inability to assess with precision what we mean for the economies of the other … has an impact on our decision -making and the two countries tend to look much more easily towards Europe and the West to Asia,” said Hemingway.

Economists and trade experts claim that the increased trade potential lies in particular in goods not covered by the Canada-UX-Mexico (CUSMA) agreement-such as raw materials such as wood and critical minerals, as well as goods that US President Donald Trump was slapped with high rates (or threatened to do), in particular steel, aluminum, copper, copper, copper cars and pharmaceutical products.

Anand said that Canada and Mexico have agreed to build a work plan that focuses on resilient supply chains, port trade lines in port, artificial intelligence, agro-food, digital economics and energy security.

Look | The G7 has caused diplomatic efforts from Canada-Mexico, says Anand:

Anand says the momentum to build the Canada-Mexico relationship started at the top of the G7

Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Prime Minister Mark Carney had an “excellent” bilateral conversation with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta in June. Anand said that she and the Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne continue to rely on the momentum created by this conversation, while ensuring that the interests of Canadians are represented.

On the outskirts of Canada’s diplomatic efforts to Mexico, a rumor appeared that the two countries had agreed to create a “commercial corridor” by somehow bypassing the American functions.

The rumor seems to come from a YouTube video apparently generated by the AI of the PPR Mundial channel published on July 18, alleging that Canada and Mexico plan to divert $ 120 billion from the US trade in the American ports by delivering goods by the rail and the sea “without entering the ports of Texas” in a call “North Corridor”.

The video claims that Canada exports like Steel, “Maple” and the wood will head to the Gulf of Mexico via a “coastal shipping bridge”. The distance between the largest ports of the two countries, the port of Vancouver and the port of Manzanillo, is around 4,917 kilometers per ship according to an estimate.

The video is riddled with factual errors, including the types of customs responsible for the goods that cross the United States as well as commercial and economic figures, and rarely quotes verifiable sources.

“The first thing I thought was:” How would he be the hell would it be? “” Said Debra Steger, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa and principal researcher at the Center for International Governance Innovation and the CD Howe Institute, specializing in international trade law.

“I suppose that if you were in international waters, of course, ok. But I mean, how many goods could you put on ships and how long would it take to get there? And put things on planes-you can’t put everything on a plane and it’s very, very expensive.”

Steger added that she hoped that Champagne and Anand will exchange information with Mexican officials on negotiations of their respective countries with the United States

We don’t know if it happened. When they were asked several times by journalists on Tuesday evening, the ministers refused to answer if they knew why Mexico had so far spared 35% tariffs on goods not in accordance with the CUSM.

Anand only said that Canada and Mexico trade relations with the United States are complex and different. Carney said on Tuesday that Canada could relieve its reprisal prices and that it would have a telephone call with Trump when it “makes sense”.

Sheinbaum spoke with Trump shortly before the news of the 90 -day exemption from his country increased prices.