Good afternoon. My name is Kathleen Sullivan, and I'm the executive director of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.
CAFTA is a coalition of national and regional producer groups and processor associations that support an open and transparent international trading environment for agriculture and food products. My members include the beef, the pork, the grain, and the oil seed sectors in Canada, among others.
Canada's agrifood sectors are very much dependent on trade. Canada exports almost $40 billion a year in agriculture and food products, and that includes half our beef, two-thirds of our pork, 75% of our wheat, and 85% of our canola. It is essential that government and industry work together to expand export markets for these products.
The EU is a potentially critical market for us. The EU is a lucrative market for Canadian agriculture and food products. Outside the WTO, it really represents the greatest trade opportunity that our agrifood sectors have seen in a generation. The EU has 500 million people who largely share our taste in food and who have an interest in the higher-value food products that Canada is known for and creates.
We are, however, underservicing this market. Our exports to the EU right now are only one-tenth of what we're shipping to the United States. For some of our key products, like beef and pork, we have virtually no access to Europe today, and we're also hindered by a series of non-tariff barriers, like GMO regulations, for many of our important crop products, in particular canola.
We have seen tremendous progress in the CETA negotiations so far. Over 90% of tariff lines have already been identified as possibly going duty-free on day one of these negotiations. But the negotiators have yet to tackle the most sensitive agriculture issues. For us, that includes beef and pork and biotech regulations. These will really be critical in evaluating the success of an FTA at the end of the day.
We firmly believe that a deal that doesn't include a strong agriculture package just won't be worth signing. Canada and the EU did an economic feasibility study before these negotiations began, and fully a quarter, 25%, of all the value of the CETA to Canada will come from additional agriculture and food exports. This is a very important opportunity for us.
A more open trading system is essential for Canada's agrifood sectors and for this important part of the economy. The WTO continues to be our main trading priority, but the Canada–EU CETA is a potentially critical deal for our agrifood sectors. It could open EU markets for key agriculture and food products, and it could address long-standing and future non-tariff barriers in a manner that's precedent-setting.
Thank you very much.