Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has set off on a 10-day voyage across Europe and Asia to pursue his oft-stated goal of finding markets for Canadian goods and services beyond the United States.
Trudeau travels first to France, then on to summits with other world leaders in Singapore and Papua New Guinea, looking to push trade across the Pacific.
Observers say Trudeau's biggest test will be in the last two stops.
Canada has shown repeated interest in trading with Asian nations on the Pacific Rim over the years, but has failed to make sustained progress in a region where trade deals often depend on personal relationships.
International Trade Minister Jim Carr will join Trudeau there, where he will have face-time with leaders from a 10-nation bloc known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and then with a larger group of world leaders at the annual APEC leaders' summit...
Foreign-policy experts who keep track of Canada's trade interests in Asia caution that Trudeau is likely to return home with a series of project agreements rather than any major new trade treaties.
Combined, the ASEAN countries would be Canada's sixth-largest trading partner and exploratory free-trade talks with them are going slowly -- though some are included in a larger trade treaty with Pacific Rim countries that Canada just ratified, meaning it will soon come into force...
This is excerpted from 9 November 2018 edition of CTV News.