vim editor with TERM

Hi all,

I use the following terminal:

echo $TERM
xterm-256color

when in my ~/.profile I do:

export EDITOR=nano

everything works well.

However, if I do

export EDITOR=vim

then when I ssh into the machine, up and down arrow in the terminal do not work anymore (it does not give me access to previous commands entered).

I have installed the following vim:

$ pkg_info | grep vim
vim-9.1.139-no_x11 vi clone, many additional features


Does anyone have a clue as to what could cause this issue?

Thanks,
Jake