A major Mexican trade mission to Canada launched Thursday, involving over 200 Mexican businesses, looking to expand commercial links during the two-day, two-city encounter that will include high-level talks on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
The mission begins in Toronto on Thursday before moving to Montreal. It is the largest that Mexico has ever sent to Canada, though it’s a truncated version of the trip, which was originally announced as including Vancouver.
A total of 240 Mexican businesses are signed up, with about 1,800 business-to-business meetings already planned, according to Mexico’s Secretariat of Economy. The trip comes as both Canada and Mexico look to diversify their trade — both with each other and with others — and rely less on the U.S., amid tariff chaos and general global uncertainty.
“It’s evident that there’s so much opportunity for Mexico and Canada to collaborate,” said Fernando Vargas, CEO of Bloom White Label Partners, a digital services company based in Aguascalientes.
“We are time zone-aligned, we are in North America and we’re hosting a World Cup together.”
Vargas said his startup currently conducts between 30 to 40 per cent of its business in Canada, and he is hoping the trade mission will lay the foundation for further expansion.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to be present elsewhere, and both countries are very interested in working with each other,” he said.
“I think that should continue; that should increase.”
(Chris Corday/CBC)
During the mission, Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard is also planning to meet with Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc to discuss the pending CUSMA review. Those meetings, which are not designated as official negotiating sessions, are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
During his time in Canada, he plans to meet with the CEOs of Air Canada, Bombardier, CN Rail and TC Energy, among others. Mexico’s top trade official is also slated to host a meeting between Mexican businesses and Canadian investment funds, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of the largest in the world.
“This is an unprecedented working visit aimed at expanding our investment and trade flow with Canada,” said Ebrard in a statement.
Trade keeps rising
Mexico’s visit follows one of the largest Canadian trade missions ever in February, which touched down in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Canada and Mexico recorded about $62 billion in bilateral merchandise trade in 2025. Canada was the second-largest destination for Mexican goods last year, and those exports grew 17 per cent between 2024 and 2025, according to Mexican government figures.
Canadian trade with Mexico has seen an over 12-fold increase since the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1995.
Luis Arzani, chief commercial officer for Grupo Xpress Internacional, says he is looking to integrate logistics operations directly with partners in Canada. (Cinthya Chavez/CBC)
Luis Arzani, chief commercial officer for Grupo Xpress Internacional, said he hopes the trade mission will help his logistics company create relationships directly with Canadian businesses and find new ways to integrate trade flow without the need for a U.S. intermediary.
“We can integrate a corridor between loading something in Mexico and taking it all the way to Canada with one single point of contact,” he said.
Armando Ortega, president of the Mexico-Canada bilateral committee of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Commerce, said Canada should be a priority target for Mexican capital, given the uncertainty that shrouds the global economic climate.
Trade between the two countries as yet to reach its true potential, he said.
“You need an element that becomes transformational in terms of a relationship,” said Ortega. “To me that … would be for Mexican capital to start tapping the Canadian market.
“That, in my view, will be a game-changer.”
Armando Ortega says increasing Mexican capital in Canada would be a ‘game-changer.’ (Mike Zimmer/CBC)
Ortega, who was involved in NAFTA negotiations, said that, at the time, Mexico and Canada found common ground and pushed the U.S. to soften and change positions on specific sections of the final deal.
He said the two countries need to take the same approach with CUSMA’s review.
“Which is, in this case, ensuring that you don’t have only one of the trading partners putting forward, or even imposing, an agenda.”