OTTAWA — From all the recent rhetoric, you would think Canada could soon be on the losing end of free-trade deals with its European and Asia-Pacific partners.
But Canada’s decision this week to join a relatively new global organization, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank — one based on funding projects in the world’s developing nations — could add a new narrative to the current tone of politics and protectionism that has played a large part in slowing progress in the implementation of long-sought and hotly debated international deals.
Momentum for the Trans-Pacific Partnership has slowed amid a divisive U.S. election campaign that is rattling confidence in global commerce with all the talk about tearing up trade pacts and “building walls,” rather than eliminating barriers. Meanwhile, the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union has created trade concerns in Europe.
But moving against that tide of tighter trade rules, …
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