As they say in the funny papers, I'm glad you asked.
You're absolutely right. Absolutely, this is building-block stuff. It's a template for eventual return to multilateral.... What we're seeing in the meantime, however, with the demise of Doha Round is the rapid expansion, the blossoming, of bilateral agreements, many of them at the instigation of or the promotion by China, or India, or Brazil. The terms of trade are increasingly being set in our absence--I mean the west's absence--from international trade negotiations with the demise of the Doha Round. These terms are increasingly set by China, India, and Brazil.
Here in Canada, we have an opportunity not only to display to the world that we're not a protectionist country, that we're not indulging in protectionism, but more important, that we're attempting, with our European partners, to set new standards of international trade negotiation that will set the terms and the tone for future trade negotiations internationally, bilaterally, and regionally, which otherwise the Doha Round might have done.
But I, for one, do not want to see trade standards and trade practices set by China or India, and here is an opportunity to get aboard the bandwagon before it leaves.