A large Canadian trade mission is set to visit Mexico early next year, with stops scheduled in Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Canada’s ambassador to Mexico, Cameron Mackay, told Canadian outlet CBC News in a recent interview that the Canadian government is laying the groundwork for a “Team Canada” trade mission to Mexico next February.
🇨🇦🇲🇽 While in Mexico, Minister LeBlanc and a Canadian delegation of business associations reinforced the importance of strengthening Canada-Mexico relations to ensure continued prosperity and collaboration across North America.#EconomicGrowth#TradeDiversification@CanEmbMexico pic.twitter.com/bPOZBB9156
— Canada Trade (@CanadaTrade) December 12, 2025
He said that the mission will be led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who met with Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard in Mexico City earlier this month.
Mackay told CBC News that hundreds of Canadian businesses have applied to join the mission.
“In terms of the number of businesses who have applied to join the minister and come and look at export opportunities here, it’ll be the biggest … [trade mission] we’ve ever done,” said the ambassador, who arrived in Mexico in 2024 after serving as Canada’s high commissioner in India.
Such is the interest in participating in the trade mission from the Canadian business community that there may not be enough room for all applicants, Mackay said.
“There’s only so much logistical capacity. We really want to make sure that the businesses themselves are export-ready,” he said.
The Feb. 15-20 trade mission will focus on opportunities in the agriculture, advanced manufacturing, information communications technology and clean energy sectors, as well as creative industries.
The mission will take place just a few months before Mexico, Canada and the United States initiate a formal review of the USMCA, the North American free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.
During Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Mexico City in September, Mexico and Canada pledged to deepen ties and work to strengthen the free trade pact they share with the United States. Carney also met with President Claudia Sheinbaum at the G7 Summit in Canada in June and at this month’s World Cup draw in Washington, D.C., where the two leaders sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The value of trade between Mexico and Canada is dwarfed by the value of trade between both Mexico and the United States, and Canada and the U.S.
But Mexico-Canada trade has grown significantly in the three decades since NAFTA took effect. Two-way trade was worth almost CAD $56 billion (US $40.75 billion) in 2024, according to the Canadian government, up from less than CAD $5 billion before NAFTA entered into force in 1994.
According to the Mexican government, Mexico’s top export to Canada last year was motor cars, while its top import from Canada was auto parts. The two countries export a range of other products to each other, including agricultural products and various intermediate goods.
Canada is the largest foreign investor in Mexico’s mining sector, while foreign direct investment of Canadian economies across the Mexican economy totaled more than US $3 billion last year. Canada ranked as the fourth biggest foreign investor in Mexico in 2024 behind the United States, Japan and Germany.
Networking, business briefings and site visits
According to the Canadian government, the trade mission to Mexico will include “networking opportunities with Minister LeBlanc and Mexican business leaders” as well as “on-site business briefings by our Trade Commissioners, senior officials and key local industry experts” and “sector-specific site visits.”
For representatives from small and medium-sized Canadian enterprises, there will also be an opportunity for “pre-arranged business-to-business meetings.”
All participants will go to Mexico City and a second city — either Monterrey or Guadalajara — depending on their sector.
The Canadian government said that the trade mission to Mexico was organized because “Mexico offers a compelling value proposition for Canadian exporters.”
It noted that the USMCA (known as CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership “provide Canadian businesses with significant advantages, including tariff-free entry for 99% of Canada-Mexico traded goods, streamlined customs procedures [and] enhanced investment protections.”
Considering trade tensions with the United States, “Canada and Mexico will need each other more than we ever have,” Ambassador Mackay told CBC News.
“We want to be working together and trying to solve problems together,” he said.
“With the pressure that’s on the Canadian business community now, I would say there’s never been a better opportunity and more motivation for Canadian businesses to think about expanding and looking at whether Mexico is a good market for them,” the ambassador added.
* MORE ON THE MEXICO-CANADA RELATIONSHIP:
In 2024, Mexico News Daily published a “Canada in Focus” series focusing on different aspects of the Mexico-Canada relationship. Here are links to three of the articles from that series:
- Mexico and Canada: 80 years of diplomatic relations
- Brews without borders: How Beermex links Canada and Mexico through beer
- Going beyond clichés to foster understanding: An interview with Graeme C. Clark, (former) Canadian ambassador to Mexico
With reports from CBC News
