The U.S. in fact had concluded the negotiations of their free trade agreement with Panama before Canada began to negotiate with Panama, but they had not yet signed the agreement. It was during that period that we moved in and negotiated ourselves, over a period of about a year, between 2008 and 2009, our own agreement.
There have been some delays in the United States side in terms of implementing the U.S.-Panama trade promotion agreement, as they call it. In particular, those were related to certain questions about Panama's record on labour and taxation. My understanding is that those were addressed last year, and in that light the U.S. Congress last October passed the implementing bill for the U.S.-Panama agreement. Some weeks later, President Obama signed it.
That agreement still has not come into force because there are some administrative measures that the United States is still waiting for Panama to implement, but our understanding is that it could come into force as early as October of this year.
Certainly if the U.S. agreement comes into force before the Canadian agreement with Panama does, and if Panama starts to cut its tariffs with respect to imports from the United States before it does with Canadian imports, then there could well be an impact on Canadian exporters who are already in the Panamanian market. They will no longer be on a level playing field with their American competitors, and the U.S. will have in some cases a significant tariff advantage—15% on beef, up to 70% on pork, etc.—that the Canadians would not enjoy.