Matthew Holmes: Canada–Mexico plus U.S. businesses make for a winning formula

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As companies rethink global supply chains, North America has emerged as the world’s most integrated and reliable production platform. Canadian agri-food, machinery and aerospace inputs feed Mexican facilities. Mexican manufacturing strengthens North American exports. U.S. distribution networks bring products to global markets.

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This is not theory; it is how the continent already works.

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce agrees: North American integration is a competitive advantage, not a liability. U.S. manufacturers, retailers, agri-food producers and service providers rely on Canadian and Mexican partners to stay globally competitive. Undermining that integration does not strengthen the U.S. Instead, it weakens its own businesses.

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That is why recent Team Canada efforts in Mexico matter. The goal is not simply to increase export volumes. It is to help Canadian companies move beyond shipping goods and into partnerships, joint ventures and operational footprints that provide scale and resilience.

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The entire continent becomes more competitive when Canadian companies embed in Mexican supply chains and when those supply chains are integrated with U.S. buyers and distributors. It both builds on CUSMA and diversifies how Canada trades.

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The service sector is another overlooked pillar. Canadian banks and financial institutions already operate at scale in Mexico, helping companies access both the Mexican market and the broader Central and South America markets.

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Don’t forget tourism and hospitality. We all understand why Canadians flock to the Mexican sun at this time of year, but there has been a historic migration in recent months. As Canadians reconsider their travel dollars spent in the U.S., many have turned to Mexico. This January, for the first time, the Toronto-Cancun flight path became Mexico’s most-travelled international route, beating out major centres such as Dallas and Madrid.

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Our own travel and tourism sector is also considered one of Canada’s top services exports, in that it draws foreign capital into our economy. Mexico’s tourism to Canada has been the fastest of any international market to recover from pandemic-era lows, according to Destination Canada data, and is considered a strategic source of future growth.

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However, when Canada introduced new visa requirements, fees and paperwork for Mexican travellers in 2024, it immediately led to a 28 per cent decline in visitors. If we’re serious about our North American project, we should probably revisit this decision.

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In a world defined by geopolitical risk and supply chain realignment, North America has an advantage most regions envy: proximity, complementary economies and the underpinnings of a rules-based framework that has already proven its worth. The task now is not to reinvent it, but to defend and deepen it.

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Canada–Mexico ties are not a side story to Canada’s current trade dilemma. They are central to the answer.

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Matthew Holmes is executive vice-president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

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