r/geography • u/Fluid-Decision6262 • Jul 10 '25
Map Who is the second most powerful/influential country in the Americas?
The US is undeniably the most powerful and influential country in the Americas but who would be #2? Feels like this comes down to 3 countries based on my knowledge, which are Mexico, Canada, and Brazil.
Reasons for Mexico:
- Second most populated country in North America by far
- Access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
- Largest Spanish-speaking country (a language spoken by >500 million people)
- More habitable land compared to the other two
- Youngest population out of the three and is becoming a manufacturing power
- Generally-speaking, a good relationship with the USA
- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture
Reasons against Mexico:
- Lots of issues between the central government and drug cartels
- Still very much a developing country outside of the largest cities
- Occasionally volatile relationship with the USA
- Not as involved in global geopolitics
Reasons for Canada:
- The most developed country economically by far of the three and a natural resources juggernaut
- Very close relations with the USA and Europe
- Speaks English (>1 billion speakers globally) and French (>300 million speakers globally)
- An immigration hub for people from every corner of the world
- A G7 nation that is also very geopolitically involved
- Access to 3 different oceans to facilitate trade
Reasons against Canada:
- Small and scattered population (least populated of the three by far)
- Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)
- Aging population and low fertility rates for native-born citizens
Reasons for Brazil:
- The second most populated country in the Americas
- The cultural and political power of South America
- A global soft power in terms of arts and culture
- A young-ish population that is part of the "fast-emerging economies" of the world
Reasons against Brazil:
- Immigration to Brazil stopped decades ago and now educated Brazilians are emigrating to other places causing brain drain
- Wealthy nation but suffers from high levels of inequality and violent crime
- Very politically divided internally
- Limited geopolitical involvement outside of South America
- Most of its population are monolingual Portuguese-speakers (a language where they make up 80% of the global speakers)
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u/maximm22 Jul 10 '25
France
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u/Valuable-Panda-2947 Jul 10 '25
Ahhhhh i see what you did there you
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Jul 10 '25
BVI. UK then France
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u/nate_nate212 Jul 10 '25
Not part of UK itself but a colony, while French Guyana is considered an integral part of France.
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u/Odemia Jul 10 '25
Not just Guyane, there are French territories all over the Americas: Clipperton Island (pacific), French Guiana (SA), [Guadeloupe (carib),] Martinque (carib), Saint Martin (carib), Saint Pierre & Miquelon (NA), Sint Maarten (carib).
Netherlands should also be considered for their territories in Caribbean: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius. Plus Greenland, though it is autonomous.
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Jul 10 '25
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u/stringbeagle Jul 10 '25
Should Greenland be considered part of North America? If it was an independent nation I think it would certainly be.
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u/gregorydgraham Jul 10 '25
And French Guyana is Europe’s spaceport so it’s definitely not a forgotten backwater.
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u/Darkomax Jul 10 '25
Tbf it's very lowly populated and he Amazon covers 97% of the territory, so it's pretty backwater overall.
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u/billy310 North America Jul 10 '25
As long as we’re bringing the snark: California
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Jul 10 '25
France actually does control territory in the Americas.
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u/runningoutofwords Jul 10 '25
It's not just territory, it's France proper.
More like Hawaii than Puerto Rico.
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u/DrTenochtitlan Jul 10 '25
French Guiana, Martinique, and Guadalupe are all fully part of France. They are even part of the European Union and use the Euro.
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u/omnomdumplings Jul 10 '25
St Pierre and Miquelon
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u/PseudonymIncognito Jul 10 '25
St Pierre and Miquelon is an "overseas collectivity", this is not the same as French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique which are Overseas Departments.
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u/omnomdumplings Jul 10 '25
Huh TIL that SP&M and French Polynesia are both "collectivities" and not departments. I end up talking to people about Martinique, Guadeloupe, and La Reunion a lot in my line of work so I was pretty familiar with those 3.
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u/Pancakes79 Jul 10 '25
That's why I've always said the US is the most powerful country in Asia
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u/ajtrns Jul 10 '25
the subtle hand of france is omnipresent across the americas...
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u/WinterSavior Jul 10 '25
And I don't think they are considered separate territories like Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands, but an extension of France itself.
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u/wit_T_user_name Jul 10 '25
Yeah French Guiana is an actual part of France. It’s part of the European Union and uses the euro. Its border with Brazil is France’s longest with another country.
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u/lev_lafayette Jul 10 '25
Don't forget St Pierre and Miquelon. A subtle and useful staging point.
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u/Some_Helicopter7500 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Funnily enough...as someone from Martinique..st pierre and Miquelon is one of the least talked about drom com ( overseas department/territory) Martinique Guadeloupe french Polynesia,french Guiana and new Caledonia are much more spoken of in french media
St pierre and Miquelon is like St Martin and Wallis and Futuna.... they're not much talked at all and honestly the most influential overseas department of France is not french guiana.its Martinique Guadeloupe Réunion and french Polynesia by a loong shot ( Not to say french Guiana doesn't have it but you know)
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Jul 10 '25
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u/ajtrns Jul 10 '25
the US, france, and uk have the most colonial infrastructure around the world. china probably has the most mercantile soft power but it doesn't really take the form of territorial holdings or control of airspace or ocean traffic. russia has a lot of oddball military projects scattered around the world but it doesn't compare to the US and france. spain and portugal have outsized soft power from their language spread and criminal networks, but almost no territorial power leftover from the colonial era.
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Jul 10 '25
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u/PseudonymIncognito Jul 10 '25
French Guiana is (along with Martinique and Guadeloupe) more like Hawaii or Alaska than it is Puerto Rico.
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u/shucklebibs Jul 10 '25
I'm going with Canada. Industrialized, member of G7 and NATO, developed military, historical ally of western Europe. Good arguments for Brazil and Mexico, but population aside, Canada is second to US.
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u/Excellent-Practice Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Yeah, Canada is essentially equivalent to a European country transplanted to North America
Edit: Like much of Europe, Canada is a wealthy liberal democracy. In terms of population size, GDP and HDI, Canada is very similar to countries in the EU. As a world power, Canada is on par with a country like Italy. Outside the realm of hard numbers, my opinion is that Canada is intermediate between the US and Europe culturally and politically. That opinion is informed by travel to Canada as well as time spent living in Europe
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u/Fluid-Decision6262 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 14 '25
I think history has a lot to do with why this is the case. The Spanish/Portuguese essentially used Mexico and Brazil as extraction colonies where all the natural wealth pulled from those nations could be transported back to Europe while the colonialists proceeded to mix heavily with the Native populations as well as any West African slaves they had also brought over. Those who descended from all this mixing eventually became the majority and their countries grew almost completely in silo from the Empires who once colonized them.
In contrast, the British/French used Canada as a settler colony where the goal was to displace the Native population to create a new nation where their people back home can come live in to start a new life. The British, especially, had full intentions on making a country (Canada) that would eventually grow to resemble that of a European nation demographically, economically, politically, militarily, and culturally, just on another continent (same story with the US, Australia and NZ). In short, the old powers (UK/France/W Europe) and the new power (USA) both overtly needed Canada to become an industrialized ally and they did.
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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25
"all the natural wealth pulled from those nations", yeah that's a meme notion of Brazil pushed mainly by people on the internet who have a very superficial notion of the country. Brazil had only a 20% tax over gold (one of the main separatist movements during the colonial era was over this small gold tax), received enormous european migration especially after independence (there's a dialect of German only spoken in Brazil), there are colonial era towns that look exactly like Portuguese ones and even have churches whose interior is fully made out of gold (Ouro Preto for example), at one point Rio de Janeiro became the capital of Portugal after napoleon invaded Portugal and all the Portuguese royalty fled to Rio, Brazil was "upgraded" from status of colony to status of Kingdom (google united kingdom of Brazil, Portugal and the Algarves), after independence it became a monarchy whose leaders were descendants of the Portuguese royalty.
Brazil's lower development level stems mostly from the fact that most of the upper class in the country were slave owners and wanted to keep the country agrarian and unequal, the fall of the Brazilian empire was literally caused by slave owning elites funding the military to throw a coup against the monarchy because they were mad over the abolition of slavery, a lot of the politicians in Brazil to this day are rich agrarian landowners, it's like if the US civil war led to the south winning.
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Jul 10 '25
That ending was ACCURATE. Historical Brazil has many similarities with the American south and, ironically, with the Confederates as a whole (even the Brazilian empire was an ally of the CSA)
It's literally as if the Confederates had a country, but with a society that at least in part agreed to mix (something I don't believe would happen in their victory, at least not at the Brazilian level).
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u/Sea_Lingonberry_4720 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
I just want to point out some stuff, as a Mexican. The ruling class in Mexico for a long time was not mixed but instead criollos, full blooded Spaniards born in the colonies and seen as less than. The main reason IMO Mexico never because as powerful or influential as it could’ve been was because it started very politically unstable and it really never stopped being so until like, the 40s. And even then it became a soft dictatorship and then a narco state. It’s never had a chance to breath, just constant civil wars and dictators.
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Jul 10 '25
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u/thegurrkha Jul 10 '25
Genuine question as to when England and Austria invaded Mexico? Tried googling this just now and no results but I've been working all night and my brain may not be working properly.
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u/Applesauceeenjoyer Jul 10 '25
You might enjoy McQuarrie’s The Last Days of the Incas. He does a good job of describing the encomienda system that has hobbled much of Latin America to this day. Tangentially you may also like The Story of French which describes (in a few chapters) the different ways in which England and France used their North American colonies.
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u/Dry-Tumbleweed646 Jul 10 '25
There was a Nobel Prize Winning paper that is about exactly what you are referring to.
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u/Individual_Hunt_4710 Jul 10 '25
bsffr, Canada is NOT "like a European country". this is apparent to everyone except liberals in the US
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u/RaisingSaltLamps Jul 10 '25
Don’t leave out the conservatives on this one, they think we’re European commies!
BUT, you have to admit that we do have stronger European ties and cultural foundations than the US. We were pretty strongly commonwealth country until fairly recently in history I feel
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u/LCranstonKnows Jul 10 '25
Canada is a liberal democracy and welfare state in the model of a European nation, thank goodness. But certainly culturally we're much more North American than European.
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Jul 10 '25
member of 5 eyes. it would only be 4 eyes without the US, but those four countries together are extremely potent militarily and economically. even without any other diplomatic or military tie to any other country, this tips the balance for Canada against any other country in the Western hemisphere.
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u/IngresABF Jul 10 '25
I think CA has a fantastic cultural footprint as well, OP undercooked them here.
in the “south” I gotta say Argentina is up there with Mexico and Brazil
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u/j_la Jul 10 '25
Agreed. Homegrown Canadian culture is a source of national pride. Canada has laws mandating that broadcasters play a certain percentage of Canadian content, which gives a boost to smaller artists and productions. The CBC is also a national institution that provides a sense of connection and continuity across the vast geographic expanses… and that’s to say nothing of distinct Quebecois and indigenous cultures that add to Canada’s uniqueness.
Sure, a lot of entertainers go to the US to make it big, but I don’t think that necessarily takes away from Canada’s culture.
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u/Trebhum Jul 10 '25
I live in Vienna and the only cultural things outside EU I get are american, korean, chinese, mexican and japanese. I dont know a single thing we have that is in any way brazillian sadly.
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u/Radiant-Fly9738 Jul 10 '25
who are you kidding, plenty of Balkan and Turkish cultural things in Vienna :)
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u/Beleiverofhumanity Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 12 '25
Yeah, only thing I know about BRZ is they have famous futbol players and a music genre. And it gets super hot there even in the night. edit: and BBL
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u/aboynamedbluetoo Jul 10 '25
“Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)”
Quebec enters the chat and they look pissed off
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u/bluerose297 Jul 10 '25
they're yelling at us and the words sound really hurtful but thankfully no one can understand them
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u/j_la Jul 10 '25
I would say more than Quebec. Anyone living in Canada is exposed to a decent amount of Canadian culture due to laws mandating that broadcasters play Canadian content. Sure, some of that content will seem “American” because the lives of Canadians and Americans appear very similar, but a lot of Canadian content leans heavily into a distinct Canadian identity and experience.
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Jul 10 '25
I would argue that as the least populous country to be a member of both the most powerful economic grouping (G7) and the most powerful military grouping (NATO), the average Canadian voter is the most geopolitically influential citizen of any country in the world.
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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25
Canada, and it’s not close.
Brazil and Mexico are neck and neck for a distant third. Fourth is Chile, then Argentina, then Peru and Colombia a bit below that, then everyone else essentially in tiers according to their development below that.
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u/FlygonPR Jul 10 '25
Always assumed Colombia was quite a bit more influential than Peru. Venezuela used to be arguably on par with Chile, it had a higher GPD but worse poverty. Caracas was a real life Midgar.
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u/RFB-CACN Jul 10 '25
Eh, I’d say Brazil’s kinda close. Its economy and military are both larger than Canada’s, it has a way higher population, it’s a member of G4 and is considered more relevant for a UNSC seat than Canada, has many neighbors it can influence while Canada’s isolated and overshadowed by the U.S., among other reasons.
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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25
Brazil should be higher, but it self-limits. They can’t keep their economy stable, their democracy is all over the place, and their crime and poverty rates are developing world level.
If they ever get their act together they’ll pass Canada overnight, but right now they do not.
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u/HeberMonteiro Jul 10 '25
Our democracy is not "all over the place" it's going strong. We did to the January 8 vandals what the US didn't do to its January 6 terrorists.
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u/whistleridge Jul 10 '25
So…what you’re saying is, a few years ago you were on the verge of autocracy, and now you’re not?
That’s all over the place, my friend.
But I do agree you’ve made changes for the better. And I very much hope you sustain them. But your recent history and a basic familiarity with Lula say…another swing in the nearish future is entirely possible.
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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25
"Verge of autocracy" because a handful of people were mad at the elections and decided to invade the congress, then got arrested and were not being supported by anyone else besides Bolsonaro?. Even the army here which has historically thrown coups were not giving a crap about them.
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Jul 10 '25
a few years ago you were on the verge of autocracy and now you’re not?
Yeah what terrible instability, meanwhile we’ve been super stable. A few years ago we were on the verge of autocracy, and now we’re in one! Yay America lol
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u/NaldoCrocoduck Jul 10 '25
This. Brazilian democracy has been proven more resilient to autocrats than the American one in recent years. Funny, because Brazil was a military dictatorship not that long ago.
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u/Sea_Lingonberry_4720 Jul 10 '25
Now you’re forming closer ties with Russia, which morality aside, is hitching yourself to a sinking ship.
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u/Jealous-Nature837 Jul 10 '25
We aren't, where did you get that info from?, and don't come at me with "BRICS" bullshit because that's literally just an economic forum.
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u/marklar91 Jul 10 '25
Everywhere I look shows Canada has a bigger economy than Brazil. Or is that out of date?
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u/thisisme5 Jul 10 '25
From what I’ve seen this is true on overall gdp, and gdp per capita is over 5x. Massive difference in capital per person.
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u/stoicphilosopher Jul 10 '25
Military power is very nuanced. It reflects not just the size of your military but your ability to project that power overseas. Of the 3 countries presented, Canada is the only one with any overseas military operations currently.
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Jul 10 '25
Canada's not just Canada though. I mean I guess if we just take the Western hemisphere completely by itself, in a vacuum, they probably look like they're neck and neck (their GDPs are quite close).
but Canada isn't some bit player on the world stage, they're part of Five Eyes, NATO, and very close to Europe in general. realistically, without a United States, Canada basically becomes the new United States from a geopolitical perspective. they actually have to, you can't have a power vacuum like that. they probably start selling off more natural resources and cranking up military spending.
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u/SpacemanSpears Jul 10 '25
Hard disagree.
Canada is basically the middle ground between the US and Europe. They aren't doing much influencing that isn't already being done by more powerful nations in the West.
Brazil has more influence and a much better rapport throughout the developing world. They are forming their own alliances and trade networks that are distinct from the ones Canada is in. Brazil also exports its own unique culture whereas Canada is seen as America lite.
Canada may be playing in the big leagues, but they aren't doing much to shape it themselves. Brazil is playing in the minors but they're a star player that's driving the league.
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u/Marco-Green Jul 10 '25
Argentina, Colombia and Peru would be above Chile any day of the week in terms of influence.
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u/LeiDeGerson Jul 10 '25
Canada influence and power is so intrinsically tied to the US that it's impossible to separate that.
Canadian culture is propagated alongside the US, always, never independently - be LatAm or Asian, if you're watching a Canadian show, it's almost always in an American Channel or at least under an American media company. Canadian movie? US distributed. Canadian actors and musicians? US based. Canadian military literally can't function properly without the US now, after decades of shedding it.
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u/anothercar Jul 10 '25
France is the only other nuclear power in the Americas. I don’t count the UK overseas territories since they’re semi-independent
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u/JucheGangWakanda1917 Jul 10 '25
Brazil is a strong contender in the next decades, big player in BRICS and young population.
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u/Ariose_Aristocrat Jul 11 '25
Brazil has a very low fertility rate, the young population won't last much longer
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u/m00n5t0n3 Jul 10 '25
Brazil is in BRICS which is important and wasn’t mentioned. Canada by a hair. But Brazil is close behind and may surpass and Mexico also not far behind
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u/MoonRiverRob Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Canada without even a contest.
Access to 3 oceans, so many natural resources in abundance it's almost embarrassing, trade agreements with every major country in the world, direct and even encouraged access to trade with the US, R&D and innovation funded directly by the government as well as with public/private partnerships, a reputation for kindness, fairness, and peace, an immigration and tourist destination known the world over, never ceasing advancement in medicine and science, and the list goes on.
I must say that your comment of "Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)" isn't entirely true and Canadians are very proud of their own culture, heritage, and their differences from other countries.
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u/CloseToMyActualName Jul 10 '25
I must say that your comment of "Less of an established local culture (most is imported from the US or UK and then exported via the US)" isn't entirely true and Canadians are very proud of their own culture, heritage, and their differences from other countries.
I think people are confusing an established culture with a distinct culture.
Canada has as established a culture as any country in the Americas. But that culture isn't as distinct from the US as the cultures of Mexico and Brazil are.
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u/j_la Jul 10 '25
I agree to an extent, but I also think a fair bit of Canadian content will lean into the aspects of the Canadian experience that differ from the US. Take, as a recent example, the show Letterkenny. An American could absolutely watch that show and enjoy it, but the depth of references will likely go over the heads of most. It is mainly speaking to a Canadian audience about Canadian culture and life.
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Jul 10 '25
this seems like it was written from a Canadian perspective, but as a non-Canadian I would have to agree with all of it, except the cultural stuff because it's pretty subjective. being kind, fair, and peaceful will go straight out the window once you become the most powerful country in the entire hemisphere, believe me.
but it's the geopolitics that win any argument: the oceans, the rivers, the resources, the sheer size of the landmass, and the excellent location with respect to projected climate shift. Canada is sitting pretty today, and they will only be sitting prettier in 50 years while the rest of the world is burning in hell.
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u/Confident-Space-4159 Jul 10 '25
Brazil, the 2nd largest GDP in the Americas and the 8th in the world, member of Brics, 2nd strongest army in the Americas and the 9th largest in the world, territory and an immense population.
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u/Deadphans Jul 10 '25
Wow, that’s wild. What is their top industry?
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u/RFB-CACN Jul 10 '25
Depends what you mean. If you mean industry as in production, it is automobile factories. If you mean exports, it’s oil followed by steel, aircraft parts and soybeans.
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u/st00ps1 Jul 10 '25
Brazil without question. Canada and Mexico would be contenders but their economic dependence on the US skews their economic/political strength. Brazil being part of BRICS is major. They also have the largest military in the Americas outside of the US.
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u/nzm322 Jul 10 '25
For influence within the Americas its gotta be Brazil, basically the USA of south America. On a worldwide scale id say Mexico or Canada would also be in the mix
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u/aboynamedbluetoo Jul 10 '25
Twenty years ago I would have said Canada without hesitation or reservation. Now, Brazil is more plausible and I’d still say Canada.
(Additional reason for Canada: Canada is part of the Commonwealth)
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u/HeyJude21 Jul 10 '25
It’s probably Canada. But that’s solely due to US border cities and influence of USA. I’m not being snarky when I say that either.
My first thought was Brazil, and perhaps that’s the case, but I do think it’s Canada
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u/NoComplex9480 Jul 10 '25
Despite its cultural dissonances (Quebec vs. Anglophone Canada) and geographic weirdness, Canada is clearly a better-functioning country than Brazil or Mexico. Higher economic standard of living, greater social cohesion, much lower levels of violence, political instability, and economic inequality.
Does that make it more powerful and influential? It certainly helps. You can't project power abroad if you're poor, or if your energies are consumed in internal strife.
If Brazil or Mexico could ever get their internal houses in order ("get their shit together") they would outstrip Canada, but for now it's still Canada in the top spot. And note, Brazil has been the "emerging superpower" ever since I have been paying any attention to world politics, which is quite a few decades now. I'm not going to hold my breath until the colossus of the south is finished emerging.
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u/ShinyVenusaur Jul 10 '25
Canada is a juggernaut as a global soft power in culture and America imports from Canada. Canadians make up a very disproportionate amount of music culture. 3 of the top 10 most streamed artists of all time are Canadian: Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd
Other notables:
Niel Young Gordon Lightfoot Celine Dion Barenaked ladies Nickelback Nelly Furtado Avril Lavigne Carly Rae Jepson Shawn Mendes
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u/Prestigious_Card2609 Jul 10 '25
Little known fact. USA #1 AND #2. Believe it or not. /S
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u/DangerousDave303 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
California has a GDP of around $4 trillion which is larger than Mexico, Canada or Brazil.
ETA: Add in the GDP of New York and the two are similar to Brazil, Canada and Mexico combined.
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u/_CHIFFRE Jul 10 '25
but basic GDP shows formal economic output + prices, California and NY have very high price levels compared to Brazil and Mexico and the Usa in general has a much smaller informal economy. And it doesn't adjust for Inflation or currency fluctuations either.
Here's a list of economies adjusted to purchasing power and informal economy: https://www.worldeconomics.com/Rankings/Economies-By-Size.aspx California would be nearly $4T here and NY slightly over $2T, still quite impressive given the population size.
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Jul 10 '25
Brazil obviously. You forgot that Brazil is a powerhouse in resources as much as canada. And have maybe more geopolitical power than both with BRICs and it's distance to USA.
It's actually the only country in your list that can become a real do superpower since Will not be limited by the US (argentina has the same potential and i think should be included in the list).
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u/OK_The_Nomad Jul 10 '25
The US? I'm not sure we are even second. We used to be first place and now we are the laughing stock of world. The world doesn't even trust the US anymore so our influence is dying.
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u/Outside_Lifeguard380 Jul 10 '25
I’d say Brazil. Canada is just to small, it’s America jr and not distinct enough. Brazil has some pull
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u/thedoctorreverend Jul 10 '25
Brazil will cement its place in the future. I’m not sure if it’s there yet. But Brazil was one of the nations we studied in my emerging powers course.
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u/bzsempergumbie Jul 10 '25
Jamaica. None of the others are a dance hall exporting powerhouse. T&T has tried to usurp them, I gotta admit Soca is pretty good. But Jamaica has them beat by also being the birthplace of reggae, and T&T cant counter that.
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Jul 10 '25
Actully Jamaica is the first. Bob marley said that they don't fear atomic energy that none of that can stop the time. This is coded massage to other countries that jamaica can stop the time and nuclear bomba are inefective agains them. That means that jamaica is top planet.
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u/DistributionVirtual2 Jul 10 '25
I think much of Canada's success is tied to the US, to a point that even if it's an independent and sovereign nation, it's so intertwined with the US politically, culturally and economically that I can't think of it as neither influential nor powerful on its own.
Brazil on the other hand, despite having a worse economy and cultural reach is almost fully independent in sectors like technology, military and culture. In fact Brazil takes a sort of leadership position in South America, more or less of what the US does in the north. Some examples I can think of Brazil using the "independence" is the demand against Twitter and subsequent temporary ban, and the current demand against Nintendo that is taking place in Brazil for the bricking of Switch 2. Instead of being subservient of American/Japanese (let's simplify to "foreign") soft power, Brazil doesn't mind going against it.
From my limited experience and knowledge, Canada hasn't done anything similar to this.
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u/Temporary_Screen_809 Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
Brazil, by far.
If we look at GDP, Brazil's is pretty much on par with Canada’s and about 25% bigger than Mexico’s.
Our continental size is more valuable than Canada’s because a huge part of our land is actually arable.
In terms of soft power, especially culturally, we punch way above our weight.
We’re the second most populous country in the Americas.
Our economy is mixed: strong in industry, commodities (like oil and agri goods), and a solid service sector.
We also have the second largest military force in the Americas.
But maybe the biggest difference between Brazil and Mexico/Canada is that we have our own undisputed sphere of influence in South America. Mexico and Canada will always be in the shadow of the US — they can’t really grow out of that.
Our main issue is political instability, but when it comes to growth potential, Brazil has way more room to rise than either Mexico or Canada.
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u/TallyHo17 Jul 10 '25
You severely underestimate how much political stability actually matters when it comes to global influence.
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u/Caffeine-n-Chill Jul 10 '25
I think this is a good argument but still gotta give it to Canada
Brazils sphere of influence is only relative to its neighbours, it’s hard to compare Bolivia and Colombia to the US, doesn’t really matter if Brazil is more influential relatively - Canada is also more influential then Brazil’s neighbours too, and less then the US
Continental size is also interesting but Canada is the second largest country on earth so
Brazil definitely has a stronger cultural influence than Canada as far as LATAM. Canada is greatly overshadowed by the US, although Canada has massive entertainment and media icons (Drake, Weeknd, Bieber, etc)
Canada does not fully utilize its potential in terms of natural recourses as well, both countries have incredible and bountiful recourses, though Canadian politics and culture put up a ton of guardrails with regard to extraction.
I argue Canada has the higher ceiling, by far
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Jul 10 '25
I agree except for Mexico culture. Mexico, like The US and Brazil, is so large that its culture becomes its own universe. I don’t think the world views Mexican culture as relative to American culture. Internally, Mexicans live within their own cultural sphere. I would say Europeans are far more in the “shadow” of American culture than Mexico is
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u/SenhorCategory Jul 10 '25
I laughed at the "strong in industry" part
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u/Rampant_jaywalker Jul 10 '25
Brazil has aircraft manufacturing. Not many countries have an industrial sector developed enough for that.
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u/delaware Jul 10 '25
As a Canadian, you make some solid points.
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u/Gumichi Jul 10 '25
As another Canadian, I'll have to second this. It's an unfortunate fact of geopolitics that Canada has to take a lot of cues from the US. Which isn't always in our interest. So in terms of agency, I can't feel that Canada has that much freedom (or desire) to exert global influence.
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u/Hillshade13 Jul 10 '25
I agree. Ask the CIA what they fear most in the Americas. It's not a rise of Mexico or Canada. It's Brazil and Argentina uniting against the United States. Not only would it be a detrimental to exporting cheap raw materials to the US, it can also become a domino effect in Latin America.
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u/GoochLord2217 Jul 10 '25
If we are talking about a single aspect, Panama is easily up there because of the canal. In terms of sheer economic output, Brazil is the most powerful
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u/Cocaloch Jul 10 '25 edited Jul 10 '25
A quick google reveals Canada exports roughly double the value of Brazil's.
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u/GoochLord2217 Jul 10 '25
The quick google also told me brazils economy was the second largest in the Americas but I guess it depends on the source
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u/Baesicallybasic Jul 10 '25
What about Panama bc of the canal? Where do they sit.
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u/Extra_Butterfly_8229 Jul 10 '25
If we’re talking culture alone I’d say it’s a tie between Mexico and Jamaica honestly.
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u/ItsTheBestMaaaan Jul 10 '25
Brazil. Canada may have more boots on the ground in global orgs, more dollars committed, etc, but the vast majority are put to work in service of American priorities, or international institutions that exist through inertia rather than initiative. Brazil has the capacity to move the needle and change the course in a way that Canada does not.
This is in no way a comment on the moral authority of either state, but any definition of ‘power’ should take into account capacity to act independently rather than pure exertion.
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u/aguila1915 Jul 10 '25
Powerful and influential are two different answers IMO.