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Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, and the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, Julio Berdegué, met on October 14 to discuss bilateral relations and strengthen cooperation and trade ties between the two countries as part of the Canada–Mexico Action Plan 2025–2028.
Canada and Mexico seek to continue strengthening their role as strategic partners in the global agri-food trade, fostering a sustainable, inclusive, and growing sector that enabled agri-food trade between both countries to increase by 50% from 2018 to 2023.
During the meeting, both officials emphasized the strategic importance of the Canada–Mexico relationship in ensuring sustainable, resilient, and inclusive food systems. They highlighted progress in agri-food trade, scientific research, technological innovation, and sustainable rural development, as well as their shared interest in expanding technical and commercial cooperation.
Minister MacDonald recognized Mexico’s key role as a strategic global partner and reinforced the opportunities to strengthen bilateral trade and technical cooperation, particularly in the grain, oilseeds, horticulture, and animal protein sectors, while respecting each country’s inspection and regulatory systems.
Secretary Berdegué underscored the need to strengthen integrated North American value chains, promote sustainable productivity, and reinforce cooperation mechanisms to address common challenges such as climate change, animal and plant health, and the transition toward low-emission agriculture.
The Minister and Secretary emphasized the importance of science and technology collaboration and sharing of expertise. They committed to convening a meeting of scientists from both departments to identify areas of further collaboration and to report back within the next 6 months.
Canada has also accepted to establish a joint working group to analyze and propose measures to support regulatory recognition in meat and seafood.
Both countries also agreed to advance the implementation of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Work Plan to expand market access and ensure competitive, safe, and high-quality products for consumers and processors. Additionally, Canada and Mexico agreed to adopt electronic certification for plant products such as canola and wheat and to continue to work towards expansion of this tool to other products to facilitate efficient trade for both countries.
Leveraging existing mechanisms such as the Canada-Mexico Consultative Committee and Agri-Business Working Group, they agreed to strengthen collaboration and information exchange focused on food security, competitiveness, trade expansion, and diversification.
October 16, 2025/ Governement of Canada/ Canada.
https://www.canada.ca
