There would be several dimensions to a North American auto pact, and there's a lot of exciting potential to do that, given the direction of the U.S. administration today. They are concerned about supporting the auto industry, as well as the broader manufacturing sector and the environment. I think all of those would have to be part of a strategy.
First of all, we'd have to do something to enhance the overall level of North American content in the vehicles that are sold in North America. North America is the only important regional market in the world trading system that tolerates this very dramatic trade imbalance. Every year four million vehicles come into North America from offshore jurisdictions, and virtually nothing goes back in the other direction. That means the average North American content in the typical vehicle on the road is much lower than in other markets.
So it would involve a combination of carrots and sticks to go to the offshore makers and say, “Listen, you can't continue to use North America as a dumping ground for your products. You have to be adding value to the North American economy through new investments here--potentially joint venture investments with existing companies in North America.”
We have an exciting example of that in Canada. Volkswagen is now producing the Volkswagen minivan--the new one, not the old one the hippies used to drive--at a CAW-represented facility in Windsor. This is a way for Volkswagen to put something back into the economy and not just treat us as wallets on legs.
We should tell other companies with no manufacturing presence here whatsoever, such as Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai, and BMW, that we have idle capacity in Canada, productive technology, and productive workers, so come in on a joint venture. They won't do that of their own accord, but if government twists their arms a bit they can make that happen.