International Trade committee  Yes, I would say so, because I think over the last 23 years we've come to accept NAFTA as a given and we haven't really had a lot of common discussion about the impacts or the importance of NAFTA. I think that in many ways it's been taken for granted that we have generally free access to each other's market and a free flow of goods and services moving back and forth, as well as investment.

International Trade committee  Well, we do have the view that the prospects for the auto sector in Canada still remain quite positive. We are exporting a lot more autos to the U.S. than we import from the U.S. Eighty-five per cent of our exports go to the U.S., so it's a major market for us, but we strongly feel there is potential to do much better.

International Trade committee  We have had that discussion at the table. We've also had discussions about the U.S. right-to-work states, where we feel that there is an unfair advantage being provided and that those tend to be the states that are trying to attract investment by offering lower labour standards.

International Trade committee  Well, I think there's no denying that we are in a period of uncertainty with respect to the U.S. in particular and their approach to the NAFTA negotiations. I'm not sure that there's any escaping some level of uncertainty, both with where the negotiation might be going and with respect to some of its ideas that this administration is putting forward in.

International Trade committee  Well, I think we do have real opportunities to further advance our relationship under NAFTA with Mexico, and we do have a commitment that if the U.S. were to withdraw from NAFTA, we would maintain the NAFTA between Canada and Mexico. We see significant opportunities in the agriculture and agrifood sector with Mexico.

International Trade committee  Well, certainly at the negotiating table we have been spending a fair amount of time on reacting to the U.S. proposals, which, as I've mentioned, would cause significant negative effects. We're looking for impacts that would provide benefits to all three parties, including, obviously, our strongest interest, which is with respect to Canada.

International Trade committee  I think that if the U.S. were to withdraw from NAFTA, then you can easily look at the areas of high tariffs, which could be reimposed—not necessarily, but could be reimposed—against Canada. We do have high tariffs into the U.S. in areas such as footwear, textiles, and apparel. The auto tariff is not very large, which is of some comfort.

International Trade committee  We have been making some fairly quick advances in the digital trade chapter. It's called “electronic commerce” in previous agreements, but it's being called “digital trade” in the NAFTA renegotiation. We covered many of the issues that you've mentioned, such as agreement not to impose customs duties on issues related to digital trade.

International Trade committee  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.

International Trade committee  It is a challenge—and, frankly, not one we're really used to—when industry in the other party's backyard is criticizing the proposal. As well, auto manufacturers, auto parts manufacturers, and the labour unions in the U.S. have all been opposing the U.S. proposal. We have been working closely with all of those groups in the U.S. to try to get the message across.

International Trade committee  With respect to the auto sector under NAFTA, over the years I don't think there's any denying that we have seen an increase in jobs in Mexico and that we haven't seen those kinds of increases in Canada. The U.S. hasn't seen those kinds of increases, although they too have seen increases, and U.S. employment in the auto sector has been up 6% a year on average over the past decade, so it's not as if they're not making gains.

International Trade committee  We have rejected that proposal entirely. We certainly would not be surprised to see the U.S. asking for increased access to our dairy, poultry, and egg market, since that's a traditional request of theirs, but to ask for the complete elimination of our entire protection of that market—

International Trade committee  We are rejecting the U.S. proposal that has been put on the table.

International Trade committee  We have had a lot of discussion on that chapter, the temporary entry chapter. We have made the argument—and Mexico has been very supportive of our arguments on this issue—that we should be modernizing the chapter. Many of the professions that have been listed in the original NAFTA are now out of date.

International Trade committee  There are different types of dispute settlement in NAFTA. You mentioned chapter 19, which relates to trade remedies, anti-dumping, and countervailing duties. There's also the state-to-state dispute settlement process under chapter 20, and there's an investor state dispute settlement process under chapter 11.