I don't think we're going to lead with our chin on this. I want to make sure that we understand what the Americans are actually proposing before we start tilting against it.
I think Mrs. Laverdière mentioned that the Americans don't have a VAT. They're one of just a handful of countries in the developed world without one. There seems to be a consensus that they can't have one and that it would be politically impossible, so Mr. Ryan is trying to mimic one by punishing imports and rewarding exports.
Our main message I think is not going to be very complicated. When you put a huge tax on imports, the cost of imports goes way up, and the consumers have to pay. Americans have enjoyed, in our lifetime, and certainly in the last 20 years, an astounding reduction in retail prices, from sweaters to lawn mowers—anything. I think consumers in the United States enjoy that quite a bit. A decision to reverse that and start driving those prices back up is politically very challenging. I think we'll probably end up making that point.
Because we're a major energy supplier, it's a kind of vivid lesson. You can say, well what benefit is it to you to raise the price of oil entering your country, so that at the pumps you have to pay more and every factory needs to pay more for heating? I think that's easy for them to accept.