To begin with, the agreement on April 27 was shared with industry and with provincial governments. We took the issues and concerns that were conveyed to us over that period of time and we successfully negotiated further concessions by the United States on the issues that were important to them. Anti-circumvention was important. You spoke of loan guarantees. We have an element in this agreement that is far better than any loan guarantee program. You don't have to go to your bank or financial institution. All you have to do is assign your deposit. Export Development Canada will flow the cash to you very quickly. That is far superior, from a company point of view, to any loan guarantee program.
In terms of the legal victories, you cited Tembec. Tembec will have to make its own decisions on what the interests of Tembec are going forward. On critical matters relating to this agreement and some of the fundamental issues like the recovery of deposits, we have other cases we can use to pursue those legal points, but I should say, the advice I receive is that decisions relating to NAFTA disputes of this type are not precedential. In other words, they exist, they're part of the file, but they're not precedential in the same sense that common law court cases are legally precedential.
So I come back again and say to you, if the U.S. government and the U.S. coalition wanted to pursue a protectionist action against Canada, they can do that whether or not we win chapter 19 legal victories. They can modify the laws, they can come after us in various ways, but the reality is that if we have an agreement, it cannot be terminated by industry in the United States. It is an agreement with the Government of the United States. The Government of the United States is not going to terminate this agreement lightly, and I believe they will not terminate it, period.
I will state again that this is a seven- to nine-year agreement, with termination provisions because there were concerns and anxieties from industry. We have provided termination provisions that will be helpful in easing some of their anxieties.