Canada-Mexico: Neighborhood Interfered

Just recently, Canada and Mexico decided to assume and promote an American vocation that has geographically always belonged to them. The vicinity shared with the United States—a constant influence in the development of the bilateral relationship between Canada and Mexico—is one of the most explanatory factors both in terms of the traditional lack of knowledge between the two countries and of their recent approchement. For years, this shared vicinity was a dense “smoke curtain” between the two countries, since each one gave priority to its bilateral relationship with the powerful neighbor until it became a privileged, almost exclusive relationship. This essay analyzes some of the less known characteristics of the beginnings and the evolution of the relationship between Canada and Mexico: the trade approximation pretended by the territories that were already the British colonies that would become Canada, the first Canadian commercial missions of the 19th century, the importance of Canadian investment in the Mexican economy at the beginning of the century, and the evolution of relations in the period between the wars, among others.