{"id":35902,"date":"2026-05-07T17:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35902\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:26:14","slug":"mexico-brings-major-trade-mission-to-canada-as-usmca-review-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35902\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico brings major trade mission to Canada as USMCA review approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexico’s Economy Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, pictured in Mexico City on Feb. 16, plans to meet with executives from major companies during a trade mission to Canada.Henry Romero\/Reuters<\/p>\n

A major Mexican trade mission kicked off Thursday in Toronto as both countries look to deepen business ties ahead of the review of the North American free-trade pact \u2013 one that\u2019s seen the two countries take differing strategies in talks with the United States.<\/p>\n

The mission is Mexico\u2019s largest to Canada in recent memory, bringing more than 240 companies to Toronto and Montreal over two days for more than 1,800 business-to-business meetings.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, plans to meet with executives from major companies, including Air Canada AC-T<\/a>, Bombardier BBD-B-T<\/a>, Brookfield BN-T<\/a>, CN Rail CNR-T<\/a>, among others. He is also slated to lead meetings between Mexican companies and investment funds, including the Ontario Teachers\u2019 Pension Plan, one of the largest pension funds in the world.<\/p>\n

The visit comes at a delicate moment for North American trade relations. The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, known variously as CUSMA or the USMCA, is up for review this year, and there are concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump could walk away from the trilateral deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can make North America the most competitive, dynamic and resilient region in the world,\u201d said Dominic LeBlanc, Canada\u2019s Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, during the opening speech on Thursday in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canada-Mexico relationship is bonded by common values, by economic ambitions that have generated very considerable prosperity for both our countries over decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada, Mexico agree to \u2018close co-ordination\u2019 on USMCA talks<\/a><\/p>\n

He said Ottawa is preparing for a \u201crobust and joint review\u201d of USMCA with both Mexico and the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis collaboration offers enormous opportunities,\u201d Mr. LeBlanc said. \u201cNot only to reaffirm the benefits of this trilateral agreement for all three countries, but to build on its foundations and ensure that it responds to the realities of today and the global challenges of the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. LeBlanc, left, and Mr. Ebrard attend the Team Canada Trade Mission to Mexico in Mexico city in February.Henry Romero\/Reuters<\/p>\n

He said Canada and Mexico are \u201cstable trading partners\u201d and pointed to efforts by both governments to expand business ties under a Canada-Mexico action plan announced earlier this year by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ebrard said the mission is part of a longer-term strategy to deepen ties between the two countries. \u201cWe are looking for new opportunities. We want to work very closely with Canada, not just in this year, but the next 10, 20 or 50 years,\u201d he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ebrard said Mexico is seeking to strengthen ties with countries that share \u201csimilar values and similar economic institutions\u201d at a time when the global economy is rapidly shifting.<\/p>\n

Canada and Mexico have publicly emphasized co-operation ahead of the talks, portraying themselves as reliable partners. But behind the scenes, the two countries appear to be taking different approaches to Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister should explain Canada\u2019s \u2018leverage\u2019 in U.S. trade talks, Poilievre says<\/a><\/p>\n

Mexico has been engaging more with the Trump administration and has signalled a willingness to move quickly on issues, while Canada has taken a more cautious approach.<\/p>\n

The trade mission also highlighted the degree to which Canadian and Mexican supply chains have become intertwined over decades of free trade.<\/p>\n

Fernando Lerdo de Tejada, deputy chief executive officer of Mexican baking giant Grupo Bimbo, said the company has invested more than $1.6-billion in Canada since 2014 and now operates 17 bakeries across seven provinces, employing more than 4,000 people directly.<\/p>\n

The company plans to invest another $200-million in Canada through 2028, he said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what effective trade relationships look like in practice,\u201d he said. \u201cThe economic and productive relationship between Canada and Mexico is naturally complementary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexico is Canada\u2019s third-biggest source of imports, having sent $47-billion worth of goods to Canada in 2024, led by automobiles and parts, electronics and consumer products.<\/p>\n

But Canadian exports to Mexico have been underwhelming. Canadian companies shipped around $8.6-billion of goods to the country in 2024. Exports to the U.S., by comparison, totalled around $600-billion that year, while exports to China were around $30-billion.<\/p>\n

Scott Thomson, chief executive officer and president of Scotiabank BNS-T<\/a>, said Mexico is one of the bank\u2019s most important markets, representing approximately 10 per cent of the bank\u2019s overall earnings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question now is whether we treat that advantage as a given, or whether we strengthen it deliberately,\u201d Mr. Thomson said.<\/p>\n

Scotiabank is the only Canadian bank in Mexico and is now the fourth-largest bank in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth America is one of the most trusted places in the world to do business, and it\u2019s a platform we should use boldly,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mexico’s Economy Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, pictured in Mexico City on Feb. 16, plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,483],"class_list":{"0":"post-35902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-nodelphi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}