Thank you very much.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for inviting us today. I'm very pleased to be here on behalf of the men and women who work in your local new franchise car and truck dealerships. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association represents more than 3,200 dealers. We employ over 150,000 Canadians, and our members last year sold over $115 billion in goods.
In our opinion, there is no greater threat to the health of the Canadian economy than the looming trade uncertainty between Canada and the United States, and more specifically a 25% automotive tariff as threatened by the U.S. President. Let me say this plainly: steel tariffs and retaliation measures while significant and negative for the retail automotive market are minimal compared to the tsunami-like economic downturn that will occur should we be subjected to a 25% tariff, or even lose NAFTA.
During the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the Canadian automobile market decreased to a level of 1.4 million cars. In comparison, last year the market represented two million cars. Now, in our view the effects of 2008-2009 economic situation would pale in comparison to what our members and the Canadian economy would face if we ended up with a 25% tariff on our cars as a result of retaliation. Given the threat, the TD bank issued a special economic report last week—and I'm sure you've seen it—on the auto tariffs scenario. In summary, $74 billion in exports stands to be impacted. They're estimating the job losses to be about 160,000 net positions. For our dealers, we estimate that could be 25,000 to 30,000 people, and of course there could be negative impacts on the Canadian dollar.
One of the things we're doing is working closely with our American counterparts at the National Automobile Dealers Association to highlight the downside of such punitive trade measures in the U.S. and to save us all from what we consider to be a destructive path. NADA is currently meeting with U.S. lawmakers, together with manufacturer and supplier representatives, to deliver a pro-consumer trade message to the U.S. administration. We need the press to get back to the bargaining table and secure a NAFTA agreement and avoid, at almost any cost, a trade war on automotive with the U.S. to save both sides of the border from a destructive path on this behalf.
I would like to hand over, if I might, Mr. Chairman, to one of our members, Bob Verwey from Owasco in Whitby, if I'm not out of order.