International Trade committee  Thank you. With respect to the labour rights question, as I said earlier, this question of labour side agreements is part of the process in which we are engaged. For example, we are looking for mutual commitments to respect fundamental labour principles and rights, and these, as Terry mentioned earlier, are based on some of the principles that one finds embedded in some of the other international organizations that have focused primarily on labour issues--in particular, the ILO.

International Trade committee  They have a very advanced economy with huge interests across the board, including agricultural. So when they sit down at the table they bring a very broad agenda, as do we. But as Terry just said, it isn't just what we on our side want. Getting people to show up at a meeting is not always easy, because they're being pulled from all sides; they have a multilateral component.

International Trade committee  It's hard to say. Each business has its own characteristics, so they make whatever business decisions are appropriate to their circumstances. Sometimes, in order to meet what the competition is offering, they may price down below what they may have been able to get for that same market in the past.

International Trade committee  A full-blown trade negotiation is extremely labour-intensive. By way of an example, before going off to Singapore, I chaired an interdepartmental meeting just to let people know what we were doing and to take stock internally as to where things stood on the various individual items within the file.

International Trade committee  These agreements are public, and I think for the most part it's fairly straightforward to get access to them. We can certainly look at them as models that can give us some guidance, but we will obviously shape what we're looking for to meet our particular needs. So what the Americans or others may be prepared to accept or not accept doesn't necessarily square with what we wish to pursue, or what our bottom line may be.

International Trade committee  I think Mr. Emerson has recently summed this up. We need more markets, more sectors, and more companies involved with the global value chains. From that perspective, this need for diversification is well recognized. I've just come back from four years in London, where I was the senior trade commissioner at our largest European post.

International Trade committee  I don't have a number offhand, but I can give you an illustration of it. Certainly in the southern hemisphere there are concerns on the part of some of our agricultural industries. They feel that the absence of our own preferential agreement with some of the countries that the United States and others have worked out deals with is affecting their ability to compete in these markets.

International Trade committee  In the short time that I have been on the job, I can say it is an area that we know is there. I think it is on our to-do list to look at it more carefully. Obviously, there are resource issues in terms of trying to clear through what we already have on the table and to address some of the very labour-intensive negotiations, such as the one with Korea, for example.

International Trade committee  I'm thankful that my staff has given me a list of all these agreements, because it's proven to be very helpful. In addition to the NAFTA, which we signed with the U.S. and Mexico and which came into effect in 1994, we have subsequently concluded agreements with Israel and the Palestine Authority in 1997, Chile in 1997, and Costa Rica in 2002.

International Trade committee  I would just note that in the context of the various agreements that I have said are under way, we are seeking to negotiate labour cooperation side agreements with the partners. Now, as Terry said, this is sometimes easier said than done, but certainly the effort is to be made in this area.

International Trade committee  It's very difficult to be very specific about a date for completion, because obviously this is a dance that requires two partners, and even though we may see something as an insignificant issue that shouldn't take much time, the other side may well feel.... In the six weeks I have been in this job, I have been to Geneva to try to bring some progress to the EFTA negotiations.

International Trade committee  Well, there's a range of issues. Ships are an issue that has been out there. From an export perspective, we are looking for more interest in areas of interest for our exporters, be it agriculture...and so we are playing around. These agreements all include a number of broad issues, some of them basically institutional questions where, frankly, it's the lawyers who worry more about these things than the average businessman, but it's part and parcel of a large package that has to be put together.

International Trade committee  With respect to the Korea negotiations, my understanding is that the negotiations have been very productive to date. Now, I'm going to be a bit standoffish here because it's actually my boss who's our chief negotiator, but I have brought with me a colleague who's been more closely aligned with this, so if we need to drill down any deeper I'll ask him to speak here.

International Trade committee  Yes, you are. My colleagues keep telling me that in this time period of which we are speaking, the United States has signed agreements with 15 countries.

International Trade committee  In addition to the NAFTA in 1994 obviously, they have signed with Australia in 2005, Chile in 2004, the Central American Dominican Republic in 2005, and Singapore in 2004. They signed one with Oman in 2006, yet it's not yet enforced. They signed with Morocco in 2004. So there is a good cross-section across the world.