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The hype was growing, but the prospects for trade talks were not. And now that Canada’s progressive trade agenda has been kicked into the tall bamboo in China, maybe it’s a good time for Canadians to stand back and take a hard look at Justin Trudeau’s overall trade objectives.

The public relations spin, swallowed by many, has been that sinceNAFTA is under threat from President Donald Trump, Canada should move on from the United States and sidle up to China as the big alternative.

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As things stand today, however, Canada is looking at three free-trade dead ends: NAFTA seems to be going nowhere. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is in some kind of suspended limbo. And the China long shot now looks longer than ever, after Trudeau arrived in Beijing on Monday to find a regime not the least bit interested in hearing about his progressive trade plans. Business leaders are suitably disappointed and worried, but the longer-term impact of the Trudeau government’s stumbling encounters with the real world of trade may turn out to be a good thing.