The end of the free trade era leaves Canada in the lurch

Open this photo in gallery: Gantry cranes sit idle as a container ship is docked at the Port of Vancouver on July 19.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press In Canada, which is heavily trade-dependent, free trade has been popular for several decades. For Conservative or Liberal governments, inking a new pact was reflexively hailed as a big achievement. In other nations, it was much the same. In keeping with the globalization drive, economic elites sought and supported highly liberalized trade agreements. But no longer. The trend has been upended by the trade-war populism of Donald Trump, Joe Biden's nationalist industrial policy (which…