Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, resonated in Mexico as well. Mexico, like Canada, has to contend with the fickle temperament of its much larger and more powerful neighbor, the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to reporters’ questions about Davos at a press conference Wednesday morning, saying Carney’s speech was “in keeping with the times.”
“That was a very good speech by Prime Minister Carney. I don’t know if you heard it.”
Carney said in his speech that the illusion of a rules-based international order is finally gone, and the middle powers face a choice: “to compete with each other for advantage, or to combine and create a third way.”
Carney’s Liberal government has been working to strengthen bilateral relations with Mexico as both countries seek to preserve their decades-old trilateral trade agreement with the United States, known in Canada as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Gov. Mary Simon left Mexico City Wednesday morning after a visit that included a sit-in with Sheinbaum starting Monday. The Mexican president said Simon was a “very interesting woman” and that they discussed the topic of reconciliation between indigenous peoples and nations.
Mr. Simon’s visit builds on Mr. Carney’s own trip to Mexico last September and comes ahead of a larger Team Canada trade mission scheduled for next month, led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
US President Donald Trump hit back at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comments at the World Economic Forum about new advances by countries seeking to distance themselves from US influence. Andrew Chan analyzes key moments in the two leaders’ speeches, highlighting the shift in Canada’s global strategy and the deterioration of relations between the two long-time allies. Image courtesy of Canadian Press, Reuters, Getty Images
‘We need to ally with Canada.”
Dolores Padierna Luna, a federal deputy from the ruling National Renewal Movement (Morena), told CBC News it was unusual to see Simon, Canada’s first indigenous governor general, and Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first female president, sitting together.
“We believe that Canada and Mexico always need to engage in deeper dialogue and provide mutual support,” said Padierna, deputy coordinator of the House of Representatives Morena caucus.
Padierna Luna, Morena’s predecessor at Sheinbaum, said: Andrés Manuel López Obrador also spoke of the need to build stronger ties with Canada.
Padierna said in an interview that Canada and Mexico need each other now more than ever, as the two countries prepare to enter negotiations to renew CUSMA, known in Mexico as T-MEC (Treaty between Mexico, United States and Canada).
Dolores Padierna Luna, a member of Mexico’s National Renewal Movement (Morena) party, says Canada and Mexico need to come together to defend their sovereignty in the face of “outrageous” threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We need to ally with Canada and negotiate this together…because it’s so important to save this treaty,” she said.
Padierna Luna said it was “insulting” and “offensive” for US President Donald Trump to publish an image on social media of the US flag covering Canadian territory and refer to Canada as the 51st state.
“So we have to say no. Like Mr. Carney, we must confront this issue with a memorable speech as a lesson to the whole world,” she said.
“Canada and Mexico need to come together to protect our sovereignty.”
Juan Ignacio Zavala Gutierrez, a deputy with the opposition Civic Movement Party, said Carney’s speech touched his heart.
“I thought it was a very strong, clear and intelligent speech,” he said, noting that it made clear how “emerging powers like Canada” plan to “build alliances.”This is to counter hegemonic powers like the United States and China.
Juan Ignacio Zavala Gutierrez, a deputy with Mexico’s National Movement Party, said what he liked about the Canadian prime minister’s speech in Davos, Switzerland, including the need for middle powers to form alliances.
Zavala-Gutierrez says Canada and Mexico need to find strategic points of interest and common ground when it comes to negotiations with the United States. If each country tries to tackle the issue on its own, he says, it will be doing so from a weak position.
“I believe that if we align our interests and work together, the negotiations are much more likely to be successful for both countries,” he said.
Canada and Mexico have “complementary” economies
Ana Isabel González González, vice president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said she hoped the talks between Sheinbaum and Simon would be fruitful because Mexico and Canada need to work together to preserve CUSMA in the face of the U.S. government’s ambivalence about continuing the treaty.
“This is a topic that interests me and concerns me greatly,” she said in an interview with CBC News. “We need to come together and we need to form alliances so that we can continue this trade treaty.”
Mexican journalist Alex González Ormerod, a Mexican political economist, says it makes strategic sense for Canada and Mexico to deepen ties.
“Beyond being two middle powers with common interests, the Mexican and Canadian economies are deeply complementary,” González Ormerod told CBC News.
He cited canola as an example of a product on which Mexico and Canada should depend on each other. Mexico relies on canola imports from the United States, while Canada relies on canola exports to China.
“When it comes to the economy, I believe that Mexico and Canada are in a very good position as partners and comrades in the face of exploitative behavior not only from the United States but also from China,” González Ormerod said.
Canada recently signed a trade deal with China that allows tens of thousands of electric vehicles to enter the domestic market in exchange for China lowering tariffs on Canadian rapeseed products.