I shall do my best to stick within the five minutes.
Good morning, Mr. Chairperson and members of the committee. My name is Jerry Dias, and I am the national president of Unifor, which is Canada's largest trade union in the private sector. With me is Angelo DiCaro. He's in our union's research department.
Unifor represents over 315,000 workers across the country, in each province and in nearly every industry. Our union has paid close attention to the proposed TPP agreement and the negotiations that have taken place since 2012. Our union, like most Canadians, viewed these negotiations from the sidelines. I'm glad the current government has promised public consultation on the deal. We hope these consultations are meaningful and go beyond the back rooms and boardrooms and into local community centres and town halls.
We're also glad the government has proposed to release an economic impact assessment of the TPP. I would urge the government to ensure that this study is done independently and is using a credible assessment model. We don't need another government study that is simply aimed to convince Canadians that all free trade deals are good deals.
As with the Canada-EU CETA, we don't need an economic assessment built on fantasyland assumptions that no one can ever be unemployed, that businesses won't shift capital investments overseas, and that trade flows aren't impacted by exchange rate fluctuations. Canadians need to know the facts about this trade deal. Canadians need to be empowered to decide if the TPP is in fact in our best interest.
One of our biggest concerns about the TPP is that it will undermine investment in our most strategic value-added industries. I hope this committee understands that Canada's manufacturing trade deficit sits at $122 billion. That's a record, and not one we should be proud of. That deficit has been widening each year since 2004.
At a time when developed countries such as the U.S., Germany, Japan, and others are actively investing in and managing their productive industries, Canada has not followed suit. Cutting tariffs doesn't make an industrial strategy. In fact, it will likely make a bad trade deal even worse.
The auto sector is a case in point. Our auto trade deficit in Canada is $19 billion. This is a pretty significant drop from the $14-billion surplus we once enjoyed not that long ago. While we appreciate the need to diversify auto exports away from the United States, the reality is that Canada's current auto exports aren't desired in countries like Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and even Korea for that matter. Auto exports to these countries are currently non-existent.
So what has free trade done? Well, we're one year into the Canada-Korea agreement. Korea has an economy structured not unlike Japan's. In that first year, as we predicted, Canada's manufacturing exports declined by 3.9% and imports grew by 9%. Our manufacturing trade deficit with Korea grew to $4 billion—not exactly what Canadians were told would happen.
Much of what the government is banking on in the TPP is that Canada will be granted new access to the Japanese market, particularly for autos. Japan has no import tariffs on autos. The problem with Japan isn't about tariffs. There are deeper structural issues at play, and unfortunately these weren't addressed in the deal.
Despite this, Canada still agreed to accelerate the phase-out of its 6.1% auto tariff with Japan, five times faster than what the U.S. committed to. We accepted the weakest rules-of-origin thresholds we've ever negotiated, rules struck in a side deal between the U.S. and Canada, where we had no input at all.
I hope the committee understands our concerns that thousands of auto jobs will be at risk from the TPP. Without a federal auto strategy, future investments will be hard to come by.
Now, I want to stress that Unifor's members' concerns on the TPP extend beyond auto. For instance, telecom workers worry that the TPP will broker new rules on foreign ownership. Forestry workers want clarification on whether raw log export regulations will be protected. Health care workers are furious that drug costs will likely skyrocket. Media workers wonder if we've given up our right to regulate online TV services. Food processors are concerned that facilities may close on account of more dairy imports. The list goes on. There appears to be far more questions over this trade deal than answers.
Minister Freeland has indicated that Parliament will either accept the TPP as is or reject it. There's no going back. Telling Canadians to take it or leave it is a tough proposition. The truth is that Canadians have been poorly informed of this deal. That's partly because it has been kept secret for so long.
Meaningful public consultation informed by credible, independent research is a must, but if meaningful changes cannot be made to the TPP at this point, then it is not a deal our union can support.
Thank you for your invitation and the opportunity to speak with you today. We're happy to take any questions you may have.