Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, resonated in Mexico, a country which, much like Canada, has also been forced to grapple with the mercurial temperament of its much larger and powerful U.S. neighbour.
Carney’s speech was “in tune with the current times,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, during her morning news conference Wednesday, in response to a Davos-related question from a journalist.
“That was a very good speech by Carney, from Prime Minister Carney, I don’t know if you heard it.”
Carney said during his speech that the illusion of a rules-based international order had finally vanished and that middle-power countries faced a choice to either “compete with each other for favour or combine to create a third path.”
Carney’s Liberal government has been working to strengthen its bilateral ties with Mexico as both countries attempt to preserve their decades-old trilateral trade agreement with the U.S., known in Canada as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement (CUSMA).
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon left Mexico City Wednesday morning following a visit that began Monday and included a sit-down with Sheinbaum. The Mexican president said Simon was a “very interesting woman” and that they discussed the theme of reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the state.
Simon’s visit builds on Carney’s own trip to Mexico last September and precedes a major Team Canada trade mission scheduled for next month that will be led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
WATCH | Davos speeches underscore shift in Canada-U.S. relations:
Why Trump just threatened Canada in Davos | About That
U.S. President Donald Trump shot back at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments at the World Economic Forum about a new way forward for countries seeking distance from U.S. influence. Andrew Chang breaks down key moments from both leaders’ speeches, highlighting shifts in both Canada’s global strategy and the deteriorating relationship between two longtime allies.
Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
‘We need to ally ourselves with Canada’
Federal Deputy Dolores Padierna Luna, with the governing National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party, told CBC News that it was extraordinary to see Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous governor-general, and Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president, sitting down together.
“I believe that Canada and Mexico need to speak more, always more deeply, and provide mutual support,” said Padierna, who is the vice-coordinator for the Morena caucus in the Chamber of Deputies.
Padierna Luna said Sheinbaum’s Morena predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also spoke about the need to build stronger ties with Canada.
As both countries prepare to enter negotiations to renew CUSMA, known in Mexico as T-MEC (Treaty between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada), Padierna said in an interview that Canada and Mexico need each other now more than ever.
WATCH | This Mexican politician says she was outraged by Trump’s post with altered map showing U.S. flag covering several countries — including Canada:
Mexican federal lawmaker says she’s ‘outraged’ over Trump’s insults against Canada
Canada and Mexico must unite to defend their sovereignty in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘outrageous’ threats, says Mexican Deputy Dolores Padierna Luna with the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party.
“We need to ally ourselves with Canada to negotiate this issue together … to save this treaty, because it’s very important,” she said.
Padierna Luna said it was “insulting” and “offensive” for U.S. President Donald Trump to publish images on social media with the U.S. flag covering Canadian territory and to refer to Canada as the 51st state.
“So, we have to say, no. To confront this like Carney did … with his impressive speech, as a lesson for the whole world,” she said.
“Canada and Mexico need to unite to defend our sovereignty.”
Deputy Juan Ignacio Zavala Gutiérrez, with the opposition Citizen’s Movement party, says Carney’s speech struck a chord with him.
“I think it was a very powerful, clear and intelligent speech,” he said, noting that it revealed how “emerging forces like Canada ” are planning to “forge alliances” in order to deal with hegemonic powers like the U.S. and China.
WATCH | Hear this opposition politician’s take on Carney’s Davos speech:
Mexican federal lawmaker praises Carney’s ‘powerful, clear, intelligent’ speech
Mexican Deputy Juan Ignacio Zavala Gutiérrez, with the Citizen’s Movement party, describes what he liked about the Canadian prime minister’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, including the need for middle-power countries to forge alliances.
Zavala Gutiérrez says that when it comes to negotiation with the U.S., Canada and Mexico need to find strategic points of interest and common ground. If each country tries to go at it alone, he says they’ll be working from a position of weakness.
“If we go in together, with the interests that unite us, I believe that we have a much higher probability to have successful negotiations for both countries,” he said.
Canada, Mexico have ‘complementary’ economies
Deputy Ana Isabel González González, with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), says she hoped Sheinbaum’s meeting with Simon proved fruitful because Mexico and Canada need to work together to preserve CUSMA with a U.S. administration that has appeared ambivalent about continuing on with the treaty.
“This is a theme that preoccupies me and worries me a lot,” she said in an interview with CBC News. “We need to be united, we need to have this alliance, so we can continue with this commercial treaty.”
Deputy Ana Isabel González González, with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), says she worries about the fate of the trilateral trade deal between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. (Jason Burles/CBC )
Mexican journalist Alex González Ormerod, executive director of The Mexico Political Economist, says it makes strategic sense for Canada and Mexico to deepen their relationship.
“Beyond being two middle powers with common interests, Mexico’s economy and Canada’s economy are profoundly complementary,” González Ormerod told CBC News.
He pointed to canola as an example of a product where Mexico and Canada should depend on each other. Mexico relies on imports of canola from the U.S., while Canada relies on exports of canola to China.
“When it comes to the economy, I believe Mexico and Canada are very well positioned to be partners, comrades-in-arms, in the face of exploitative practices, not only from the United States, but also from China,” González Ormerod said.
Canada recently struck a trade deal with China to allow the entry of tens of thousands of electric vehicles into the domestic market in return for Beijing lowering duties on Canadian canola products.
