MEXICO CITY – Prime Minister Mark Carney is scrambling to save his country’s relationship with Mexico after it disintegrated late last year when Canadian officials suggested they’d be better off negotiating a trade deal with the Trump administration alone.
Carney attempted to break the ice in a phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in July by complimenting an indigenous-made soccer ball she had gifted him at their last meeting and saying he hoped to visit Mexico soon.
The warm overture, relayed to Reuters by three people familiar with the call, highlights Canada’s attempt to repair the damage after a string of public slights by Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said in November that any comparison of Canada to Mexico was “the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard.”
Mexico and Canada are in many ways natural allies. They’ve benefited from trilateral trade deals with the US for 31 years: first the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 and subsequently the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement that replaced it in 2020.
But the relationship between the two countries has been beset by allegations of betrayal on both sides and memories of fraught negotiations with Trump. Top officials virtually stopped talking in November after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mused about cutting a trade deal with the US without Mexico, suggesting the US and Canada were more aligned on issues like China.
A few days later, Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago for a surprise visit with US President Donald Trump, stunning Mexican officials. It seemed as if Canada had already developed a strategy for dealing with Trump while Mexico was wringing its hands, one Mexican official said.
An infuriated Sheinbaum directed her lieutenants to stop dealing with the Canadians, at least until Trudeau left office, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Nine months later, Canada finds itself on the back foot with Trump while Mexico is reveling in its relative success. Last week, Trump gave Mexico a 90-day pause on new tariffs going into effect, keeping the rate at 25 per cent, while raising tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent.
Now, in a remarkable about-face, Canadian officials are on a campaign to win back Mexico’s favour and save the trilateral trade deal Trudeau suggested he was willing to ditch, according to two people with knowledge of the countries’ tense relationship.
That treaty continues to shield a large number of Canadian and Mexican exports to the US from Trump’s latest rounds of tariffs.
Carney said on Tuesday that “it’s important to preserve” the trilateral agreement while Canada’s foreign minister and finance minister travelled this week to Mexico for a two-day visit with top officials.
Asked by Reuters whether the purpose of her visit was to repair shattered ties with Mexico, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said: “It is extremely important for Canada to have a resilient relationship with Mexico, and indeed, I’m here to kick start that relationship.”
Sheinbaum, on X, reiterated that message. “We’re strengthening the relationship between our countries,” she wrote.
A spokesperson for Sheinbaum declined to comment. (Reuters)
