With tensions once again heating up in Canada's trade negotiations with the United States, and the Trump administration blaming the "elbows up" approach , Canadian officials are scrambling to build new relationships, including with one of its closest neighbours: Mexico.

The effort began at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., in June, where Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to meet with him privately, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said from Mexico City Tuesday.

Anand is in the Mexican capital with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to build a "bilateral economic relationship."

But the trip has prompted some experts to ask why it didn't happen sooner. Carney's first trip abroad was to France and the United Kingdom, where he discussed

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