Thanks.
As Chris mentioned—and I think I mentioned it as well—it is wasting a great opportunity to really improve North American trade and competitiveness by just dealing with this negotiation as clinging to defensive interests, or defending traditionally protected sectors, or maintaining the status quo. That's what the USTR notification looks like: very traditional, orthodox trade policy.
Canada has been pushing to expand competitiveness and expand its opportunities in North America as a result of the agreement. The sectors I pointed to are areas where we can really build North American competitiveness and where positive voluntary undertakings could really assist with our competitiveness.
Take aerospace, for example. Aerospace is already very well integrated on a trilateral basis. They're doing great things in training in all three countries. Universities in Montreal and universities in Mexico are lined up on that. What else can we do in terms of workforce development, in a co-operative effort for all three countries, to better promote great jobs in the aerospace sector?
Similarly, on energy, there's a very tiny energy component to the NAFTA. Energy companies could walk away from it and not pay much attention to what's going on in the NAFTA negotiations. Instead, if we look at all the ways in which the three countries can work together to be better collaborators.... Yes, I understand that we are also competitors in certain energy sectors, but what can we do on pipeline permitting, on regulatory issues, on reducing transaction costs, and on ensuring that we get affordable and accessible energy to manufacturers and consumers all over the three countries in order to make North America an economic powerhouse?
Finally, on the issue of what businesses ought to be doing, we're seeing a lot of Canadian MPs and businesses in Washington. You are always welcome. I've always got a cup of coffee in my office, and Chris Sands will do a meeting with you. The legislators inside the Beltway are different when they're in Washington than when they're at home in Bismarck, or Detroit, or Lansing.
I think it's really important now to focus on what Canada's positive asks are in these new negotiations and to go out on the road to the districts of U.S. legislators and remind them of how important their relationship with Canada can be and how much better it can be, and to travel in a pack that includes local U.S. supply-chain partners that can mobilize votes and jobs and help to underscore the message of the importance of Canada.