‘Superficial’ to compare Canada, Mexico approaches to U.S. tariffs: Anand

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who managed to avoid higher U.S. tariffs.

Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday it would be “superficial” to compare the approaches Canada and Mexico have taken to navigating trade negotiations with the United States, given how different their economic relationships with the U.S. are, despite only Canada facing rising tariffs.

Anand and Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and their ministerial counterparts in Mexico City to talk economic growth, trade and security.

The two-day trip comes as many Canadians wonder why the U.S. hit Canada on Friday with a 35 per cent tariff on goods not compliant with the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, while Mexico received a 90-day reprieve from threatened higher U.S. levies. The U.S. counts Canada and Mexico among its largest trading partners.

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week the 90-day period would allow room to negotiate a new trade deal with Mexico — something Canada is also currently trying to secure.

Asked if the ministers took away anything from their conversations with Sheinbaum that could help those talks along, Anand suggested the meeting was much more focused on Canada’s relationship with Mexico and “the desire for a strong North American economy.”

“I want to stress that Canada’s economic relationship with the United States differs significantly from Mexico’s,” she told reporters at a virtual briefing.

“To parse out individual elements of one country’s negotiations versus our own is somewhat superficial, because the relationship is so very complex.”

Prior to the meeting, Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard suggested he would be speaking with Champagne about about the two countries’ experiences in dealing with U.S. tariffs.