Threatened By Trump, Canada Tries to Make Up, Team Up With Mexico
Donald Trump, newly elected, was threatening to impose crippling tariffs on Mexico and Canada over what he called an "invasion" of migrants and fentanyl into the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum bristled. Mexico, she told reporters in December, "must be respected, especially by its trading partners" — one of which, she added, "also has a very serious problem of fentanyl consumption."
But Sheinbaum wasn't referring to the United States. The country she was calling out was Canada.
Sheinbaum spoke during a rare spat between the United States' two next-door neighbors — triggered, apparently, by Canada. In public remarks and private conversations over steak and meat loaf at Mar-a-Lago, Canadian officials responded to Trump's threats by arguing it was unfair — "insulting," even — to lump the country in with Mexico on fentanyl and immigration. They floated the idea of a trade deal that excluded Mexico.
Now, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is traveling to Mexico for a visit aimed at smoothing over ruffled feelings — and strengthening trade to make both countries less dependent on the United States.
The two-day visit, which started Thursday, sends a "very important signal to the Mexicans," said Graeme Clark, a former Canadian ambassador to Mexico. "The signal is, we take you seriously, we want to hear what your concerns are, we want to compare notes with you, we want to work with you, and maybe there are some things bilaterally that we can do without the U.S."
Diego Marroquín Bitar, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the Canadian rhetoric last year a "strategic mistake." For Carney, he said, it will be imperative "to start rebuilding trust."
"I think [Canada] realized how important it is to join forces with Mexico when it comes to negotiating with the U.S.," he said. "The Trump administration really cares about having leverage in negotiations with other countries. … If Mexico and Canada are on their own, divide and conquer is much more effective."
Carney began seeking to mend ties with Mexico in June, when he invited Sheinbaum to a Group of Seven meeting in Canada, where she gifted him a decorative soccer ball made by Indigenous people in Mexico.
On Thursday, the two leaders announced a "Canada-Mexico Action Plan," aimed at boosting trade in areas such as infrastructure, energy and agriculture.
"At this hinge moment, Canada is deepening our relationships with our long-standing partners — partners that share our values and aspire to a better, fairer and more sustainable world," Carney said at a news conference in Mexico City. "Mexico is central to those missions."
Sheinbaum said she was "convinced" that the action plan "strengthens" North American free trade and will "be translated very soon into direct benefits for our societies."
Trade between Canada and Mexico has grown since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. But they've both prioritized their relations with the United States, which has twice their combined population and more than seven times their combined gross domestic product.
In 2024, Canada sent more than three-quarters of its exports to the U.S. and only 1.2 percent of its exports to Mexico. Mexico sent more than 80 percent of its exports to the U.S. and only 3 percent to Canada.
"I think we've neglected Mexico," Clark told The Washington Post. "We take Mexico for granted. We don't understand Mexico. And in the same way, Mexicans think of us as an afterthought. That's something that needs to be corrected."
Several high-ranking Canadian cabinet ministers met with Sheinbaum and Mexican business leaders last month in what Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand called an "all-hands-on-deck approach" to deepening ties.
That relationship hit a rough patch last year.
Under Biden administration pressure, Canada reimposed visa restrictions on Mexicans. Washington was concerned that visitors were traveling to Canada to migrate to the United States. Later, Canadian officials criticized then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's divisive judicial overhaul, and Mexico put relations with the Canadian Embassy "on hold."
Then came the comments after Trump's tariff threats.
Source : Washingtonpost.com
