Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also want to thank the witnesses who came forward.
I must confess that I was in Peru not too long ago; I think it was about a year ago. I had the opportunity to meet with our ambassador there. She was quite gracious and gave us a very good overview of the economic situation in Peru and also our trade relationship with Peru.
A number of business people came forward as well, including people in the mining industry and also the financial sector, specifically Scotiabank. We were very proud to see that our investments are certainly making a big difference both for Canadians and for people in Peru.
I think one of the great things I've seen over the years of monitoring the situation in Latin America, particularly in Peru, is how things have really changed for the people and their lives. Although there's still massive poverty, it's nowhere near where it was 10 or 15 years ago. So that's a really important signal that things are getting better.
I'm proud of the fact that although we are here to protect Canadian jobs or jobs at home, we're making a difference in people's lives and getting them out of poverty. Whatever we can do, certainly we should be there. Aid is important, and providing financial assistance through CIDA is also important, but these trade deals actually have a longer-term positive impact in getting people out of poverty, and that's one of the reasons I'm supportive of this agreement.
I want to understand some things and maybe you can clarify them. That is, in both the agreement Canada has signed.... In the one the U.S. has signed, there are some tariff concessions by the U.S. Are they the same as the ones done by Canada? Are they totally different? Has the U.S. received a better deal than we have, or have we negotiated very similar deals in terms of tariff concessions?