Leaders of Canada and Mexico vow closer economic ties
MEXICO CITY
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Claudia Sheinbaum have promised to strengthen trade relations in the face of U.S. tariff threats and pushed to keep the most important free trade agreement in the Western Hemisphere alive in the lead-up to negotiations next year.
Their meeting came during Carney's first visit to Mexico as Canada's leader and at a moment of economic tension for the region.
The two leaders shook hands and strode side-by-side into the presidential palace in Mexico City. Despite not being present, U.S. President Donald Trump and wider economic uncertainty were front and center in the visit.
After talks Sheinbaum, Carney said the pair were "committed" to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), saying it had "helped make North America the economic envy of the world."
Sheinbaum said she was "optimistic" about the future of the accord, which Trump wants to renegotiate on terms more favorable to U.S. manufacturers.
"I believe that the USMCA will prevail," she told a joint press conference with Carney.
The agreement, in place since 2020, is up for review next year.
It is critical to the economies of both Mexico and Canada, which send around 80 percent and 75 percent of their exports to the United States, respectively.
Trump has already imposed tariffs on some exports from Canada and Mexico that don't fall under the agreement and threatened further punishment if they fail to curb cross-border migration and drug trafficking.
The USMCA replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement signed in the 1990s.
