Carney's Davos speech strikes a chord in Mexico

undercoat government minister deutsche mark Carney’s spoken language at the domain Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, resonated in Mexico, a country which, much like Canada, has also been forced to grapple with the mercurial temperament of its much larger and powerful U.S. Neighbour. 

Carney’s speech was “in tune with the current times,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, during her morning news conference Wednesday, in response to a Davos-related question from a journalist. 

“That was a very good speech by Carney, from Prime Minister Carney, I don’t know if you heard it.”

Carney said during his speech that the illusion of a rules-based international order had finally vanished and that middle-power countries faced a choice to either “compete with each other for favour or combine to create a third path.” 

Carney's Liberal government has been working to strengthen its bilateral ties with Mexico as both countries attempt to preserve their decades-old trilateral trade agreement with the U.S., known in Canada as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement (CUSMA).

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon left Mexico City Wednesday morning following a visit that began Monday and included a sit-down with Sheinbaum. The Mexican president said Simon was a “very interesting woman” and that they discussed the theme of reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the state.

Simon’s visit builds on Carney’s own trip to Mexico last September and precedes a major Team Canada trade mission scheduled for next month that will be led by Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc. 

Why Trump just threatened Canada in Davos | About That

“I believe that Canada and Mexico need to speak more, always more deeply, and provide mutual support,” said Padierna, who is the vice-coordinator for the Morena caucus in the Chamber of Deputies. 

Padierna Luna said Sheinbaum’s Morena predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also spoke about the need to build stronger ties with Canada. 

As both countries prepare to enter negotiations to renew CUSMA, known in Mexico as T-MEC (Treaty between Mexico, the U.S. And Canada), Padierna said in an interview that Canada and Mexico need each other now more than ever.

“We need to ally ourselves with Canada to negotiate this issue together … to save this treaty, because it’s very important,” she said. 

Padierna Luna said it was “insulting” and “offensive” for U.S. President Donald Trump to publish images on social media with the U.S. Flag covering Canadian territory and to refer to Canada as the 51st state. 

“So, we have to say, no. To confront this like Carney did … with his impressive speech, as a lesson for the whole world,” she said. 

“Canada and Mexico need to unite to defend our sovereignty.”

Deputy Juan Ignacio Zavala Gutiérrez, with the opposition Citizen’s Movement party, says Carney’s speech struck a chord with him. 

“I think it was a very powerful, clear and intelligent speech,” he said, noting that it revealed how “emerging forces like Canada” are planning to “forge alliances” in order to deal with hegemonic powers like the U.S. And China. 

Zavala Gutiérrez says that when it comes to negotiation with the U.S., Canada and Mexico need to find strategic points of interest and common ground. If each country tries to go at it alone, he says they’ll be working from a position of weakness.

“If we go in together, with the interests that unite us, I believe that we have a much higher probability to have successful negotiations for both countries,” he said. 

Deputy Ana Isabel González González, with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), says she hoped Sheinbaum’s meeting with Simon proved fruitful because Mexico and Canada need to work together to preserve CUSMA with a U.S. Administration that has appeared ambivalent about continuing on with the treaty.

Mexican journalist Alex González Ormerod, executive director of The Mexico Political Economist, says it makes strategic sense for Canada and Mexico to deepen their relationship.

He pointed to canola as an example of a product where Mexico and Canada should depend on each other. Mexico relies on imports of canola from the U.S., while Canada relies on exports of canola to China.

“When it comes to the economy, I believe Mexico and Canada are very well positioned to be partners, comrades-in-arms, in the face of exploitative practices, not only from the United States, but also from China,” González Ormerod said. 

Canada recently struck a trade deal with China to allow the entry of tens of thousands of electric vehicles into the domestic market in return for Beijing lowering duties on Canadian canola products. 

Reporter

---

---