Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses. It's great to have you back again. Thank you, Mr. Laurin and the Manufacturers Association. Back on January 30, 2009, you said—and I have your words to quote—that the effects of Buy American would be catastrophic, and you brought that issue to the forefront. I know Prime Minister Harper was very attentive to your call, as well as Minister Day, and we appreciate your comments as to how they worked quickly with the Obama administration to get this issue resolved.
As has been said, the road we'll be travelling from recession to recovery is going to be bumpy. There's fragility along the way. We're not just talking about trade; we're talking about people, about jobs, about hope, and about opportunities. I believe this agreement is the best deal as we move forward. People around this table have travelled to Washington. We will continue to work with them; Brad and I are on the Canada-U.S. inter-parliamentary committee. It's vital to Canadians as well as to Americans. There's approximately $1.6 billion worth of trade going across the border daily, involving 7.1 million jobs.
Mr. Laurin, I have a question to you from the association. They talk about protectionism. We have a market of 33 million, and there are approximately 300 million in the U.S. If we put these protectionist measures in, when about two-thirds of our GDP is trade-dependent, what would be the job losses as a result of those protections?