Canada, Mexico Lay Out Action Plan Before USMCA Review
Carney: 'North America Is the Economic Envy of the World' Because of Both Countries Cooperating With Each Other and the US
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The leaders of Canada and Mexico committed to close coordination ahead of next year’s high-stakes review of their trade pact with the U.S. as President Donald Trump’s tariff threats put the accord at risk.
The countries signed off on an action plan for the next three years with a strategy for long-term infrastructure development, including energy corridors to support bilateral trade. The details were published Sept. 19, a day after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met in Mexico City.
“Both countries commit to convening strategic government and industry dialogues that include energy infrastructure, renewable energy, clean hydrogen, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage,” the document said.
The transition toward responsible energy practices is also part of the plan that supports efforts to strengthen “transparency and accountability in emissions reduction, including through the exploration of methane certification regimes within the natural gas supply chain.”
At a joint news conference in Mexico’s ornate national palace Sept. 18, Carney and Sheinbaum touted advances they argued can boost the competitiveness of North America, home to a tightly integrated auto industry plus significant cross-border trade in energy and agriculture, among other sectors.
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Carney’s embrace of Sheinbaum during the pair’s first summit in Mexico City follows a recent push to build stronger ties after disputes over competing approaches to trade talks with the U.S. Both Canada and Mexico are trying to convince Trump to lower import duties on goods including steel, cars and farm products.
The meeting presented Canada and Mexico as a united front after a sometimes frosty relationship first emerged between former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Carney pledged to “move forward together, without question” with Mexico, while also emphasizing the value of the USMCA’s three-party strength.
“North America is the economic envy of the world,” he said. “Part of the reason for that is the cooperation between Canada and Mexico, both of us and the United States. We complement the United States. We make them stronger. We are all stronger together.”
Carney and Sheinbaum announced the action plan while stressing opportunities to grow bilateral trade in infrastructure, energy and agriculture. “The action plan opens a phase in which we can further strengthen our economic ties,” Sheinbaum said.
The pair also promised frequent meetings among their ministers, while also discussing next year’s World Cup soccer tournament, to be hosted by all three North American nations.
The action plan contains an “accountability mechanism” that allows the ministers responsible for various items to reconvene every three months, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told reporters Sept. 19. “From energy to mining, to AI to defense and security to workers, we’re going to continue the dialogue with Mexico.”
Port-to-Port Trade
Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, highlighted the importance of talks about strengthening port-to-port trade between the two countries.
“I don’t think it’s about bypassing the United States. I think it’s about creating capacity to trade, not just bilaterally, but multilaterally,” he said. “We have rail infrastructure, we have road infrastructure, we have air infrastructure. Why not strengthen the ship infrastructure?”
The new plan not only focuses on trade and energy but reaches topics like health, with the commitment to launch a series of health policy dialogues to enhance bilateral cooperation, knowledge exchange and coordination on key health priorities, including health security and infectious diseases.
On security cooperation, both nations committed to strengthening joint efforts to disrupt the flow of illicit drugs, firearms, money laundering and human trafficking, through “enhanced law enforcement cooperation and information-sharing.”
During his two-day visit, Carney also met with business leaders and visited a Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail yard to spotlight his country’s wheat trade with Mexico. It was the first bilateral meeting for a Canadian prime minister in Mexico since 2017.
To achieve success in the USMCA review with Trump, there can be no daylight between Mexico and Canada, since both nations are stronger together, Hyder added.
“Strategically, both Mexico and Canada need to realize that we better both be in the room together. OK, maybe I take a loss on something, and you take a loss on something else, but maybe we cut our losses in half.”
Written by Brian Platt, Alex Vasquez and Maya Averbuch
