Natural Resources committee  The removal of the clause gives us more flexibility. It means if we are going to be imposing any kind of restrictions on our exports or any kind of changes on our supply, then we are not required to provide a proportional amount to our supply of exports to the U.S. and to Mexico.

Natural Resources committee  I believe they do, because we've made significant improvements in the text. In particular, we have a side letter with the U.S. on some of these issues, particularly a number of issues on which we're going to try to adopt more common regulatory standards and more transparency amon

Natural Resources committee  Well, yes. To make myself clear on that point, while I think there are certainly challenges if we were to make amendments to the agreement before we ratify the agreement, in other words, before it came into force, after it comes into force there are provisions in the agreement wh

Natural Resources committee  We did have many discussions on softwood lumber on the margins of the negotiations. Certainly, we would have a strong interest in resolving this issue, but what we heard from the U.S. side was that its domestic industry had no interest in negotiating an agreement at this point in

Natural Resources committee  I would certainly tell you that it is a priority for our department. We have a division dedicated to softwood lumber and we are working on that and trying to find ways forward all of the time. We just don't have a willing partner to negotiate on the other side. What we need to

Natural Resources committee  We'd have to propose amendments. If we were to propose amendments to the U.S. and to Mexico, we would have to engage, if they were willing to do so, in a new negotiation to come up with a new balance of concessions among all three parties. I have to say that given the conversatio

Natural Resources committee  I need to start by providing a little bit of context. Softwood lumber is not outside of the agreement. The agreement provides that there should be duty-free trade between all three countries with respect to softwood lumber. The agreement also provides that the U.S. has a right

Natural Resources committee  Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today. We look forward to answering questions regarding the outcomes of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, or CUSMA, following my opening remarks. Signature of the CUSM

Industry committee  Certainly, and I think the aluminum issue is one that has become a bit distorted in some of the discussion. As I mentioned before, we did issue a new requirement that doesn't exist now, that 70% of purchases by manufacturers of aluminum be of North American origin. On top of tha

Industry committee  Regional value content is the percentage of North American-sourced materials that have to go into a particular auto that's being manufactured. That applies to every part that's coming up that is part of the auto. Currently you have to meet a regional value content of 62.5%, which

Industry committee  There are very diverse views among stakeholders on those issues.

Industry committee  No, it's not at this point.

Industry committee  No, we did not look at those kinds of trade-offs. I would take exception to your characterization that those were necessarily concessions on our part when it comes to data. We do have a policy. This is not the first agreement where we've addressed those kinds of issues.

Industry committee  I don't think there's a country in the world that negotiates free trade agreements that has detailed analysis that they release publicly on these kinds of things.

Industry committee  The EU does take a different approach on this; there's no question about that. We have taken a different approach, both in this agreement and, to some extent, in the trans-Pacific partnership.