HOW ABOUT ELSEWHERE?

Trudeau mentioned negotiations with two South American trade blocs on Tuesday as evidence that Canada is actively pursuing trade diversification: one with the Pacific Alliance, which includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and another with Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“Negotiators on Mercosur just met and that market of roughly 275 million, including Brazil, is moving swiftly towards a comprehensive outcome,” Pickerill said. “The Pacific Alliance negotiators are meeting right now. There is a lot of momentum and the winds are clearly blowing in Canada’s global favour.”

Still, experts such as Carlo Dade, at the Canada West Foundation, caution that negotiations by others with those blocs haven’t always concluded swiftly. “It took the European Union decades (with Mercosur) and they still haven’t finished,” he noted.