Thank you, Mr. Easter.
Some of it may have been touched on, but when it comes to market access improvement there are many different ways to improve market access, and eliminating tariff escalation is one. But you're right, there are times when TRQs are better than a gratuitous reduction in tariffs.
I can recall meeting with the high commissioner from India and him telling us he didn't want to reduce his tariffs very much. Then we said, how about you give us a TRQ with no in-quota tariffs? Can you imagine the market access we would get to India on some of the export products where we now have to pay a very high tariff? So, yes, we believe TRQs should be negotiated to come to a common end.
We believe those countries that did not live up to the spirit of the Uruguay Round should be committed to moving there. Supply management was an example coming out of the Uruguay Round when it came to offering transparent market access. In fact, our government's position to date has been that they are also prepared to go to zero in-quota tariffs. In-quota tariffs have really served to erect some very serious access issues as well.
To some extent, supply management has been more of a free trader than many of the other countries have been with their TRQs. I believe we need to be fairly specific on what gives us market access--is it a tariff reduction, a TRQ, etc.?--and make sure we negotiate the best deal we can for exporters and supply management.