Thank you very much, Chair. I'll be sharing my time with my colleague Yasmin Ratansi, but I have a few questions.
First of all, I want to thank you for your presentation. There was a lot of good information to digest. I agree with your concluding remarks. It is about leadership, and we can take control of our own destiny. We can really take ownership of some of the recommendations that you proposed.
I do want to talk specifically about a couple of areas that I didn't have an opportunity to speak to you about the last time you were here at the committee. One has to do with China.
You alluded extensively to China, and you mentioned China as a key component in the emerging markets. This is a criticism I have of the government, and it's something I do want to share. I had an opportunity to look at the Conservative Party platform with respect to international trade, and China was not mentioned in it. This is something I find deeply disturbing and concerning, simply because, as you indicate in your report, it's a very important market for us.
There are two components, and I would like your thoughts on them. One is the fact that we are losing out on an excellent opportunity in a key emerging market in China, both in terms of the growth opportunities that exist there and also in terms of integrated trade, specifically in regard to the fact that China now will become the number one importer into the United States and will take over the role that Canada currently has.
In June's trade position, China was the number one importer into the United States and we were number two. There is some growing concern that we are losing position to China. So my question to you would be how we can develop policies at the integrated trade level to cope with that changing dynamic with China. You indicate that we need to create a comprehensive and high-level China strategy, but I think it also needs to tie in with the United States vis-à-vis the integrated trade model you propose. Could you elaborate a bit on that?