Canada Sends 370 Delegates to Mexico in Dramatic Trade Pivot as U.S. Tariffs Loom

OTTAWA — In a bold and unmistakable realignment of North American economic ties, Canada dispatched more than 370 delegates — including over 200 business leaders and three cabinet ministers — on a high-stakes trade mission to Mexico this week, touching down in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara. The delegation, described by officials as the largest and most consequential Canadian trade push ever mounted in Mexico, arrives at a moment of acute tension with Washington and signals Ottawa’s accelerating determination to reduce reliance on the United States.

Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is leading the mission alongside Heritage Minister Mark Miller and Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, framed the trip in blunt terms. “There is still, in our view, a huge opportunity to expand trading opportunities with Mexico,” he told reporters before departure. He set an ambitious timeline: return by late March with signed contracts that deliver “direct opportunities” for Canadian companies.

The numbers underscore the stakes. Bilateral trade between Canada and Mexico reached $56 billion last year — a twelvefold increase since NAFTA took effect in 1994 — making Mexico Canada’s third-largest trading partner after the United States and China. Analysts and business leaders say that ranking is poised to rise sharply as companies seek alternatives to an increasingly unpredictable American market.

The mission unfolds against the backdrop of renewed threats from President Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods and even to revisit or withdraw from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is scheduled for formal review this summer. Ottawa has absorbed similar pressure before, but this time the response has been proactive and public: rather than wait for stability in Washington, Canada is building new corridors of commerce.

Chad Watson, president of QuickMill, a 50-year-old industrial machine-tool manufacturer in Peterborough, Ontario, is among the delegates. His company generates roughly $20 million in annual revenue, the bulk of it from the United States. “We are all living in trade uncertainty right now with the USMCA agreement in negotiations,” Watson said. “This is about having insurance.”

André Fréchette, co-founder and CEO of Sulfum, a Montreal-based clean-tech firm specializing in industrial solar solutions, has already experienced the shift. Sulfum grew from three employees in Mexico in 2021 to 60 today. “Mexico is our launch market,” Fréchette explained. “It’s the center of gravity of the company because all our customers are here.” He cited Mexico’s 130 million-strong population, young and educated workforce, and government openness to clean-energy investment as decisive advantages.

Jorge Rivas, regional vice president for Latin America at Export Development Canada, described a broader “evolution in thought process” among Canadian firms. Companies that once focused exclusively on North American borders, he said, are now asking fundamental questions: “How do I sell internationally?”

The timing is no accident. While Washington has treated USMCA as leverage in tariff negotiations, Mexico has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to the trilateral pact. Canadian officials and executives say Ottawa is seizing the moment to deepen ties with a partner that shares strategic interests in supply-chain resilience, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

Security concerns have not been ignored. The mission comes weeks after five Canadian mining workers from Vancouver-based Vizla Silver were kidnapped and later found dead in Sinaloa state, an incident attributed to a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. LeBlanc addressed the tragedy directly, expressing Ottawa’s concern while noting “open and transparent discussions on security matters” with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government. He voiced confidence in Mexico’s progress on public safety.

The broader message from Ottawa is unmistakable: Canada no longer views its economic future as contingent on American goodwill. Every tariff threat from Washington, every suggestion of USMCA collapse, has become an invitation to diversify — to call Mexico City, Brussels, Tokyo and New Delhi. The Carney doctrine — named for former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, whose influence is felt across the current cabinet — is now being put into practice at scale.

For Washington, the implications are sobering. A northern neighbor that once oriented almost every major economic decision toward the United States is quietly constructing an alternative architecture. If the Mexico mission yields the contracts LeBlanc has promised, the shift will move from rhetoric to reality in a matter of weeks.

Canada’s trade minister left no room for misinterpretation: this is not crisis management. It is power repositioning. And it is happening while Washington watches.