Canada barely sells fresh potatoes to Mexico. That’s about to change

Canada has its eye on a growing agricultural market as a new agreement will pave the way for Canadian potatoes to be sold and processed in Mexico, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said in a statement.

The CFIA has reached an agreement with its Mexican counterpart agency, Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA), on arrangements that will allow shipments of fresh Canadian potatoes for consumption or processing to Mexico, the CFIA said in a statement Thursday.

This follows a visit by Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald to Mexico in October, during which both countries agreed to boost agricultural trade.

“Increasing interest in Canadian goods, both domestically and internationally, reflects the exceptional standards upheld by our agricultural sector,” MacDonald said in a statement.

Currently, almost all of Canada’s potato trade with Mexico consists of frozen potatoes and processed items such as frozen fries.

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“Even though we have a free trade agreement in North America, there’s all kinds of carve-outs, and the greatest two exceptions, exemptions, and non-discussions revolve around food and textiles,” said Concordia University economist Moshe Lander.

This opens the door for more free trade in other areas, including Mexican corn and Canadian dairy, he said.

In 2024-25, Canada exported around 55,526 tonnes of frozen potatoes to Mexico, amounting to around $77.7 million, according to Statistics Canada, and almost no fresh table potatoes.

“The lack of fresh table potato sales to Mexico is more a result of a lack of harmonization of phytosanitary or health standards,” said Mike von Massow, food economist at the University of Guelph.

The agreement on Thursday, in effect, harmonizes the standards that CFIA and SENASICA apply, von Massow said.

“That will allow at least the trade in fresh potatoes. Retailers and others in Mexico will need to see if they like the variety and the size of those potatoes, but at least we’ve removed that barrier to entry,” he added.

In 2024-25, 93 per cent of Canada’s fresh potato exports and 92 per cent of total overall potato exports were to the United States, with Mexico accounting for just over two per cent of total potato exports.

This agreement is a part of broadening economic co-operation between the two countries as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs strain free trade in North America, Lander said.

“The positive that’s come out of Trump’s menacing over the last 15 months is that it has alerted countries that, wait a second, the free trade project is incomplete,” he said.

“Trump has not just come in and rocked the boat, but almost capsized it,” he said.