Vis-à-vis the United States, from my experience with business development in Latin America, the perception of Canada, and Canadian companies as a whole, is by far stronger and more readily accepted than American companies going into the market.
One of the things that I would add, having lived in South America for many years of my life, is to have Canadian companies located in free zones, and to contribute with local added labour and purchase local resources. Those have been great factors in helping Canada overcome some of the obstacles vis-à-vis trade with U.S. partners.