Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Verheul.
As the member of Parliament for Surrey Centre, along with my colleague, the member of Parliament for Surrey-Newton, I know that Surrey is a big trading hub, whether it's ports or borders. Logistics companies have headquarters here and have a huge impact on our local economy.
I first want to thank you for having concluded CUSMA prior to the pandemic and having it ratified. I think it would be a much more difficult task with protectionist views heightened during a pandemic, so we are fortunate to have it in place. However, due to the pandemic, we've still had over one-third drop in trade between the two countries. I think it's roughly 35% respectively either way, along with toughening the borders in terms of crossing times and limited border crossings.
How difficult do you think it will be to restart supply chains and restart that trade generator that we were before? Would CUSMA be beneficial in that, considering the problems the U.S. is having, particularly with some of its Asian partners?