YOKOHAMA, Japan - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Australia was the only country that took him to task this weekend over the controversial decision to block the takeover of Potash Corp. by BHP Billiton.

Under fire from some business analysts for rejecting the colossal deal, Harper said his reputation as a free-trader remained intact among the heavyweight leaders attending trade and economy talks in Asia.

Among his many bilateral meetings, Harper met with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Seoul, Korea, in part to discuss Ottawa's move to block Aussie-based BHP's $40-billion bid for Saskatchewan-based Potash.

In a long one-on-one meeting with no officials present, Harper said that Gillard was loud and clear with her complaints about Ottawa's handling of the Postash deal, but the prime minister also insisted that she was the only summit leader to put him on the spot.

"The issue hasn't been raised in any other context, by any other leader," he said.

Harper said he pointed out to Gillard that Canada and Australia have almost identical investment review regimes. And he questioned whether any other country in the world would have allowed such a deal.

Still, Harper was cognizant that many potential foreign investors are likely puzzled about how open Canada really is to investment, and under what conditions. He said he would answer all their questions once a 30-day review of the decision was concluded.

"When the period expires, the government will be in a position not only to give reasons for the decision but also to give broader guidance to the investment community on the kind of foreign investment it is -- and is not -- seeking within Canada," Harper told reporters.

The federal government told BHP Billiton in early November that its hostile bid to take over Potash Corp. was not in Canada's best interest, and it gave the company 30 days to make a sweetened counter offer.

The decision shocked investors, mainly because the federal government has long touted its free-market credentials and its hands-off approach to business.

But the Tories were under intense pressure from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and other prominent Westerners, speaking out from the heartland of Conservative electoral support. They argued the deal would take one of the world's largest suppliers of fertilizers out of the hands of Canadians and give it to foreigners.

Harper carried the Potash baggage with him at the G20 summit in Seoul and then at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Yokohama.

He talked up the benefits of freed trade at both summits and during many bilateral meetings on the sidelines.

Some analysts, however, argue the Potash decision, as well as the current spat with the United Arab Emirates, have tarnished Canada's reputation as a free trader.

The UAE recently evicted Canadian troops from a military base because of Ottawa's refusal to allow the UAE to increase commercial flights to Canada.

Harper has also had trouble convincing Asia-Pacific countries that Canada deserves to join exclusive trade talks under the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Canada was initially asked to join the negotiations, but declined because it didn't want to put its supply management regime on the bargaining table.

Now that the United States has joined the talks, and Japan is also lined up to participate, Canada wants back in. But sources say that countries already in the club, especially the U.S., are not keen, because Canada is still insistent on supply management and a copyright framework that upsets the Americans.

If Canada is being accused of flirting with protectionism, it certainly is not alone.

Harper met with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan to request greater access for Canadian beef to Japanese markets.

Kan, however, turned him down, saying Canadian beef, which is produced with hormones, isn't safe enough.