Holding onto the belief Canada needs trade with other nations more than they need us is false because Canadian businesses across all sectors can compete globally with the right agreement.“Canada is back” has become the go-to reference for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland when speaking to global audiences. But how is Canada back?Contrary to popular opinions, Canada is back with a new approach to achieving greater market access, promoting a progressive trade agenda to ensure more Canadians experience the benefits of free trade agreements. PM Trudeau believes that part of the reason globalization has lost its appeal is that the benefits of trade weren't obvious to many people in developed countries.But, many would have you believe, Canada should be content that any country would want to sign a trade deal with us, or accept whatever terms come out of negotiations with the Americans; A consistent policy position in recent memory. This simply caters to the wealthiest in society and not the average Canadian. We are a resource rich $1.65 trillion diversified economy that has preferential market access to 5 of the 6 other G7 countries as well as the EU.What Canada has lacked in recent memory is taking a firm “Canadian” position that displays to the world there are core Canadian principles that we won't compromise on. Too often, we defer to the American position or accept whatever deal the Americans secure in multinational trade agreements. Or we focus on one or two sectors without realizing that our intra-connected economy benefits when trade deals reflect several of our biggest industries. The critical thinking on trade policy by political leaders has been lacking until recently.It's been near consensus that Minister Freeland is the Prime Minister's strongest cabinet minister, first as International Trade and now as Canada's top diplomat. She has pivoted Canada's negotiating position and style by holding firm on a set of core principles during negotiations. These include: protecting Canadian intellectual property rights, promoting the automotive industry, enhancing environmental and labour standards, and the protecting supply management.Canada offers tremendous value in developing, building and exporting to the world and the current global political climate has given Minister Freeland and International Trade Minister Francois Philippe-Champagne the perfect opportunity to entrench their new principled negotiating approach. This is important as Canada seeks to carve out its spot in the innovation based global economy, where software development is as important as the manufacturing of goods. Canada can compete in both respects across all industry sectors and it behooves our political leaders to strengthen these capabilities.As our Canadian Ambassador to the US David MacNaughton says, "We do have an opportunity to be a real powerhouse in the world, and keep our citizens prosperous and happy, and we can't do that simply by playing defence.''This is what Canada accomplished with the signing in principle of the TransPacific Partnership for further negotiations, how we sealed a better deal on CETA and are negotiating on NAFTA. In TPP, Canada is the 2nd largest economy after Japan and the negotiating team leveraged that by holding off a signing ceremony until concessions were made on our core demands. While some outside observers have questioned whether Canada was acting in good faith – the reality is that they were simply trying to get a good deal. If Canada continues to be reactive to the negotiation positions of other countries, Canada will never get the deal it needs.Canada is exploring free-trade talks with China, India, Turkey, Philippines to name a few. Canada needs to – and can – negotiate trade deals that bolster our economy for the future. In an era of growing protectionism, Canada is one of the few large and stable economies openly seeking new trading partnerships around the world.  Political uncertainty in both the U.S. and E.U. means that Canada is ideally, even uniquely, positioned to secure new trade agreements.

Muhammad Ali is a consultant with Hill+Knowlton Strategies and has most recently worked for two current Liberal Members of Parliament.