Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
For my first question, I'll pick up on Mr. Allison's point on the auto sector. As you know, the auto sector is under tremendous pressure right now in terms of Canadian auto manufacturers right down to the supply chain, with the Canadian Association of Moldmakers opposed to the signing of the CPTPP. In the middle of a NAFTA round, when they're trying to achieve something better, they find it quite threatening that we're essentially showing our hand and giving away worse provisions to smaller countries. I don't think it comes as a surprise to you that they're quite unhappy with the signing of this agreement at this particular moment in time, but overall as well, they've been quite vocally opposed to it.
The question that's coming from them and that I have a question for you about is the side letter or the actual negotiated agreement. If we come out of NAFTA with something, is there any way to put language into the CPTPP now to say that we would mirror what we have in NAFTA? Why would we be offering better terms to these smaller countries than we would to our largest trading partner? There's going to be an immediate de-harmonization if we come out with something better in NAFTA than we do in the CPTPP. Is there any ability once NAFTA is negotiated to amend the auto provisions to reflect that?