Thank you very much, Terry.
Perhaps I'll start by situating the pre-eminence of the Canada-U.S. trade relationship. We all know that Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the industrial world and that the Canada-U.S. commercial relationship is the largest in the world and is the engine for Canada's economic growth and prosperity; $1.9 billion worth of goods, 37,000 trucks, and 300,000 people cross the border daily.
Canadian exports to the United States are equivalent to approximately 30% of our GDP. It should also be known that among American states, 38 states count Canada as their number one export market. Mexico is Canada's fifth biggest export market, while Canada is Mexico's second most important market. The vast majority of this trade flows without dispute.
However, the benefits of North American trade to Canadian prosperity must be considered on two levels.
The first is that global North American competitiveness is critical to Canadian success and prosperity. North American economies can work together collaboratively to great advantage to build North American supply chains that are extremely efficient. We already have cross-border clusters and we have cross-border supply chains, which create tremendous efficiency for our industries and allow us to take on some of the most competitive economies in the world from a North American platform.
The second level of prosperity in North American trade is that Canada needs to maintain and enhance its capacity in North America. As you know, there's increasing competition in the United States' market from other countries, including China and India, for example.
There are many tools at our disposal to advance a broad, forward-looking agenda. NAFTA is the cornerstone of our trilateral trade and investment relationship. I should note that Minister Emerson in the spring met his NAFTA counterparts and led discussion, for the first time since the agreement was put in place, on how the NAFTA partners could begin to work together on strengthening North American competitiveness. NAFTA ministers noted that while integrated North American supply chains are already well advanced in a number of areas, it was clear that unnecessary barriers remain.
There are many barriers that Canadian governments and national governments among the NAFTA partners can do something to address. For example, there was agreement at the ministerial meeting to launch sectoral initiatives that would identify government-related barriers that were hindering a seamless flow of goods and services in specific sectors. There was also agreement, for example, on the desirability for the NAFTA partners to better align our bilateral trade initiatives within the NAFTA platform.
A second tool at our disposal that's being used, of course, is the security and prosperity partnership. This is a broad initiative launched by leaders in March 2005 that aims to build upon existing cooperation to further enhance the well-being of our citizens. In the prosperity agenda led by Industry Canada, for example, work is under way to further advance and promote regulatory cooperation, sectoral collaboration, and trade facilitation.
I would also flag a number of other elements briefly. The first is trade promotion strategies for U.S. and Mexican markets. These crystallize on-the-ground delivery to enhance opportunities for Canadian business by delivering a common strategy to promote trade, investment, technology commercialization, and research cooperation.
There are also many targeted bilateral initiatives among our three countries; for example, the Canada-U.S. Consultative Committee on Agriculture facilitates discussion and cooperation on bilateral agricultural issues, including market access and sanitary and phytosanitary issues.
Finally, one can't speak about the North American market these days without flagging as well the need to ensure that North American border crossings, ports, and airways support efficient commerce while improving protection from terrorism and crime. These are all elements of a forward-looking agenda to increase competitiveness in the North American environment.
Perhaps at this point, given the timeframes we're allocated, I would ask David to continue with his presentation.