I'd be glad to. You referenced the naysayers 25 years ago when Canada first negotiated a trade deal with the United States, which then morphed into NAFTA. As you know, those naysayers alleged we were going to lose our sovereignty, lose our control over water. They said we were going to hollow out our economy, lose millions of jobs, that Canadian culture as we knew it would be gone. Well, none of that came true.
The reality is that NAFTA has been a huge benefit to Canada. Our trade is three times today what it was back then. In fact, our trade with Mexico has gone up almost seven times since NAFTA was signed. Freer and more open trade is to Canada's benefit. It's a great benefit to the global economy, which is still struggling to move out of the recession.
In terms of broader benefits, we've talked about services and about government procurement. Some of the sectors that have lauded this agreement would be the beef industry and the pork industry. The people in the canola industry I just met with are completely excited about having this new opportunity.
I've travelled across Canada since we signed the agreement in principle. I've been in Atlantic Canada, where they are excited about the new opportunities for fish and seafood products. I've been in Quebec, where they talked about their aerospace industry and their advanced manufacturing industry. I've been in Ontario. We talked about the auto industry. We've opened up a new market to them in the EU. I've talked about the forestry industry across the country, but specifically in my home province of British Columbia, where tariffs will be removed. They have opportunities now to very significantly increase their exports into the EU market. This is a great agreement for Canadians.
Quite frankly, we won't even experience the fullness of these benefits until a generation has passed. As more and more Canadians and Canadian businesses understand the opportunities they now have in the EU market, more and more of them, over time, will take advantage of it.