This is a very good point. In fact, we feel that many businesses could benefit from international markets, but are missing out on opportunities because of the regulatory and legislative complexity surrounding the rules of free trade agreements. That's an important fact.
We expect the federal government to do a better job of promoting the business opportunities arising from trade agreements. In general, we've observed that large companies are very knowledgeable about global trade issues, but exporting or potentially exporting SMEs are unfortunately often reluctant to go into international markets for fear that it is too complex. If they had the knowledge and support of the federal government, among others, they could benefit greatly from better growth in their activities.
So it's a bit of a missed target in that there has been an increase in the number of free trade agreements, including the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, or CETA, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, and, of course, the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA.
Still, 28% of the Quebec economy is linked to the production of goods and services for export markets, and this rises to 45% if we include other Canadian markets. So there are opportunities to increase this, but the federal government must conduct a better information campaign.