OTTAWA – International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu said he’s witnessed a sea change in interest for Canadian exports headed outside the United States amid the ongoing tariff war with the U.S.

Sidhu told The Canadian Press that in more than a decade working in the private sector as a customs broker, the focus for private firms was always getting goods into the U.S., and the risks were always unfamiliar regulations in far-flung foreign markets. Not anymore.

“Now, businesses are coming to the government and saying, ‘We need help. We want to get into overseas markets.’ Things have shifted dramatically,” he said. “We’re in a different world now.”

Canada has struggled in the past to diversify beyond the U.S., with the share of exports to heading south of the border consistently pushing past

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