Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks again to all our guests for being here today.
I wanted to talk about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, because we all know there have been extensive negotiations there. Also, when you think about how comprehensive this could be and look at other trade arrangements—for example, Canada and Europe, where some trade arrangements have gone beyond where NAFTA is—there are two schools of thought.
One is that NAFTA becomes obsolete and that the TPP would just supersede NAFTA, from a trade standpoint.
Another school of thought, though, is that because you have 12 partners negotiating, it gets very watered down. It's difficult to come to an agreement amongst 12 partners. You just have to witness some of the negotiations in the Doha round at the WTO.
Mr. Jacobson, could you maybe comment on some of your views? Where do you think TPP is going? Also, if it ends up superseding NAFTA, does North America then become less of a trade zone and more of a focus for other things, such as security, academic exchanges, and so on?