The new tariff deal and the wider strategic partnership paves the way to diversifying our exports and our sources of investment, and also our imports, because we have to put something on the table as a nation.
China's trade with Canada represents 1% of its total trade. Our trade with China is less than 5% of our trade, so we're not talking about big numbers from the get-go. In absolute dollar terms, our two-way trade is $130 billion. To be able to build out this relationship, which has been narrowly circumscribed over eight or 10 years of geopolitical tensions, we have to put things on the table.
The deal that the Carney government got from the People's Republic of China was quite a good one. We're talking about a small number of vehicles, and to open up access to Chinese markets for our food products again from our western farms and eastern fisheries, we do have to put something on the table. At the same time, it is obviously my concern, and I think it's the concern of this committee, the government and all people in Canada, that we need manufacturing in this country. No country can be prosperous without manufacturing of some sort, so we need to build our trades and our industrial sector back up after 30 years or 40 years of deindustrialization.
If we're actually assembling autos, we can, but we will need a government industrial strategy to do this, as we will if we're making armoured vehicles for the defence sector or building high-speed railcars and streetcars for our cities for clean public transportation. I think people working in those industries will be happy if they have security and well-paid jobs.
I don't know if I answered your question, but I can continue.