Absolutely. The agricultural community is very supportive of this deal--pork producers, beef producers, and grain producers.
What I heard in Bogota, from actual Colombian importers, was that if the U.S. deal were in place before the Canadian deal, we would lose those markets, particularly the wheat and grain markets. The distributors were willing to pay a premium price for Canadian wheat, given its quality. But with the increased transportation costs they pay for Canadian wheat imports added to the tariff disadvantage, which is in the range of 15%, they would stop buying Canadian wheat. That's $100 million in exports annually in the grain area.
So yes, if we don't pass this agreement, we stand to lose important markets. It's absolutely necessary that we open up new markets for Canadian exporters. This committee has told us to pursue defensive trade agreements in a timely manner. Colombia is exactly that. Colombia is engaged in free trade negotiations with many large economies, and we stand to lose not only the $700 million in exports a year across the board but also significant growth, which we've been experiencing. This is a growing market. Colombia has been growing at an average of 5% to 7% over the last few years. It's a middle-sized, emerging economy in which Canada has a foothold, and we should build on that.