Thank you. The relationship between the Mexican and Canadian negotiating teams and between me and my Mexican counterpart is very strong. I think our strongest point in common is that we are both looking at this negotiation from the same perspective: we want to improve NAFTA. We are looking for outcomes that will benefit all three parties, and we are concerned about proposals that would go in the other direction, particularly some of the U.S. extreme proposals that are intended to focus benefits in the U.S. and not in the other parties.
We have been working closely with Mexico on virtually all issues. We're not on the same page necessarily on all aspects of all issues, but they have been working very closely with us on issues such as energy. We've been working together on an energy chapter that we could put forward. They have been working closely with us on many of the practical areas, such as customs and trade facilitation, regulatory co-operation, and good regulatory practices. These are the basic issues that make a real difference to stakeholders on both sides.
They've agreed with us and are supporting us where they can on labour, but have difficulties in some other areas. We have discussions bilaterally with them quite frequently about the state of the negotiations and we work jointly where we can on common proposals or common approaches to the negotiations.