>> good morning mayors! we have had a busy morning. welcome to all of you. i encourage you to take your seats. we have a great panel this morning. welcome our live c-span audience as well. i am the mayor is the city of san diego. welcome. our session today is trade. the americas and beyond.one of the most important topics and we have been dealing with certainly in our area in our region. i think all of my fellow mayors are here today the members of the audience in the panel that you will hear from in a second. there has never been a more critical toxicities around the country to champion international trade and what that means. that is a success and the foundation for many good quality jobs have been created. that is what we will focus on today and get some unique perspective from our fellow mayors and ambassadors. as you know, the us mayors have taken progressive positions on the importance of free trade over the years in terms of trans-pacific partnership, laws and environmental standards. intellectual property rights, just to name a few. great progress but obviously our work continues. today we will talk about how important the trade of experts are to our cities. and those of mexico and canada. and how that relationship has prospered as we talked about the issues of nafta. mexico and canada are among the countries largest trading partners and we will hear about that in a second. at first i thought i would share just for a minute, how important the border cities and how important trade is with cities like san diego. i will introduce my friend from tijuana in just a second. it is not about to cities, that strength is one region. and how we are working together.how we are creating good quality jobs on both sides of the border. how it is incredibly important to our economy. san diego alone, approximately 110,000 jobs that are in our city because of nafta, because of trade. mexico is the number one trade partner and canada is the second. we are happy to have you here to get a unique perspective on issues that are facing us as cities and as mayors, particularly as negotiations are taking place this very week on nafta. it is not jobs, dollars and moving forward. i'm delighted to help moderate the panel here today. first i would like to introduce and will go to some speakers. i would like everyone to speed for maybe about 3 to 5 minutes. i want to make sure we have time for questions and dialogue from our fellow mayors across the country for the hour-long session today. select and choose the director of the adrian ash latin american center on the atlantic council. jason will provide us a brief overview on the nafta process. to work with the atlantic council on past trade issues and we look forward to ongoing collaboration. please help me welcome. jason? >> thank you very much. it's a real pleasure to be here with the conference of mayors. to be here with you and ambassadors. -- thank you for having me here. i will talk about the process of negotiating or renegotiating nafta. it was oftentimes talked about come the likelihood of a new agreement and what that might look like and i am optimistic about that. and let us know if that process looks like and when negotiations stand. before doing so is all of you know, nafta after nearly 25 years, is fundamentally part of the us economy. every state in the country counts nafta countries as at least one of the trading partners. with a watered-down nafta will all lose strategically. mayor faulconer mentioned important jobs in california along with 215,000 jobs depend on nafta and i as well, there mayor as well. our 20,000 jobs in iowa. this is a big deal across the country. new numbers are 1.8 million jobs being lost without nafta. where are we not? negotiators write our meeting in montrcal for the sixth round of talks. this is an incredibly pivotal round. many of you know, negotiations started in august with a number of demands from rules of origin to dispute settlements to a sunset clause. they were tough and hard for a number of our nafta partners to swallow. up until this round there has been progress but has been limited more to minor and technical issues of the accord. not addressing many of the essential concerns of the us administration. and it has been relatively straightforward issues first and then other questions later. we've had little to no progress on some major authority issues. but i'm hopeful seeing what is happening in montrcal this week that we are starting to see some of the progress on the more complex issues due to real compromise put out by our nafta partners. one of the things that we looked at as well, the us and canada and mexico also had a number of discussions prior to the us withdrawal of the trans-pacific partnership. and there's a technical issue on digital language. he has a ready been discussed as part of the discussions of the three countries that was prior to nafta discussions. i believe also that the us administration has heard from so many pivotal players. including mayors and governors on the dire consequences of scrapping the deal and i think that makes withdrawal all the more unlikely. the operations to finish the agreement, agreements made outlined by march before the mexican presidential campaign at the end of that month. a lot needs to be achieved before then. after all, most free-trade agreements take on average, about 18 months to sign and 45 must implement from the first day of negotiations. it is a tall order but i think it is something that i will nafta partners can work on together. what happens next? progress this week. if there is momentum then negotiators will likely meet again soon. if not we could see substantial time elapsed before the next round of negotiations. after all, two months passed before the end of the last round in this one. there are two other factors in play involving congress. first, trade promotion authority. because the president the ability to negotiate a trade deal without having to worry about congressional amendments. that authority expires on july 31. it can be extended july 1, 2021. the president wants to do that he needs to submit to congress with reasons on why he is seeking an extension. congress does not have to approve the extension but the house or senate can disapprove it. without trade promotion authority the presidents hands to negotiate a new deal of time. the second factor also to be aware of is that a final agreement takes time to move through congress. international trade commission report will be produced and in the house and wins committee -- the house and ways committee must also produce a report. -- the whole process does not conclude when the next congress takes power in 2019, we start again. mayors, your critical. the legacy of trans experimental affects all of us. 35 from canada as a foreign market. it is local jobs that defend the functioning agreement. i think we have a great opportunity here to build an agreement that has greatly benefited the united states and the partners and to make it even better. we can set the standard for the future of trade but we really cannot afford to get it wrong. i look forward your questions. thank you very much. >> thank you for that overview and particularly on the timing. next is my pleasure to introduce canada's ambassador to the united states. his experience includes work at the federal and -- levels before department of transport, industry and foreign affairs. the principal secretary of the premier of ontario from 2003 to 2005. an chairman of strategy from 2005 until his appointment. ambassador, thank you for being not only had this morning but for hosting the mayors the other evening. it was a pleasure to have you. >> is a pleasure to be here. i enjoyed last night. i was particularly pleased not to have some of the canadian mayors and some mayors from across canada but it was also that i was struck by the number of us mayors that came up to me and said, we are so pleased. we just had, we just enable it to create $300 because a canadian company invested in our city. we have a great relationship with canada. we trade actively. i think the stories around how successful a relationship has been is really important to get through right at this point. i will talk a little bit about what i see in the nafta negotiations and what we are trying to achieve is a country. and share that with you. that is, i think you know, nafta has been extraordinarily successful in terms of building competitiveness into north america on a global stage. many of our companies, many in our regions have become way more competitive globally than they were 24 years ago. and i think we face an even larger challenge now in the next 10 or 15 years. our competitors are getting more aggressive. they're getting tougher, people are investing in technology. we will have to keep up and you cannot do that by simply saying, over the last 24 years, winter other of us lost and the other one won. we have to be able to look at the nafta organization as an opportunity to grow all of our economies and make sure that this region is the most competitive region in the world. that will benefit all three of our countries. and so, when we looked at some of the proposals that were being made in terms of the renegotiation, we agreed with many of them. but they were some of them that we felt were not going to achieve the goal of growing all three countries and making the economy more competitive. and frankly, there were many us businesses and us regions who agreed that some of the proposals that were being made were counterproductive to being able to achieve that goal. [inaudible] >> we tried to point that out. we tried to make that point at the negotiations. and late last year, there was some discussion around whether we were right or wrong. but the point was made, if you think our proposals are not good enough, come back and tell us what you think will work. and so i think one of the important things is it is happening right now and it is happening not just in terms of canada but also mexico and the united states is that people have put their thinking caps on and said all right, i do make a good for all three of us? so on rules of origin or the sunset clause, dispute resolution. on all of the critical matters. it is not just a matter saying we do not agree with you. it is, all right, how do we make this works for all three of us? i think that is the process we are engaged in right now. it will not be easy because those are tough issues. there isn't universal acceptance of our position within canada. i am sure that they will have some pushback on some of the proposals that were put on the table from us interest. but i think it is very much in our interest to make sure that before the end of march, certainly in the next short while, we come to a resolution which gives communities they represent and the businesses throughout north america, the confidence that they can invest and grow the economy and create jobs. i think that is what our common goal is. and i know in every trade negotiation, there is always a bit of drama. we had a in tbd. we had a negotiations with european. i'm sure there will be some drama before this is all resolved. having said that i think increasingly, the perception and the reality is yes, nafta has some flaws in it. we need to purify the consequences of breaking nafta part would be bad for all three countries. i think that is the most important message that you can help us to convey. and i can assure you that we have been trying to put constructive proposals on the table and will continue to do so. i think given the relationship between canada united states and mexico will find a way to get this done. i was sent last night for those of you who were there, very few americans understand this but the united states exports more to canada than it does to china, japan and great britain combined. we are a huge customer of your goods. $36 billion surplus that you have a manufactured goods and all i know is that when i was in business, if i had a customer that dave, i tried to take care of him a little bit. and you are our biggest customer. we want to make sure that we work with you to achieve a good result for all of us. thank you. >> thank you, mr. investor. our next guest is mexico's ambassador to the united states. and he was named ambassador to mexico in january 2017. with a career in the mexican government. he is in the areas of trade finance, diplomacy and national security under for president. mr. investor, welcome. ... and a half to -- nafta is more about -- in a sense about not much about how much do we trade among ourselves, which as ambassador macnaughton was saying, it's a significantly big figure but about how to produce together and remain competitive to compete with all the region over the world. the second reason is there are in the neighborhood of 14 million to 15 million jobs in the u.s. directly linked to nafta, not unlike in canada and mexico. sew we're all concerned about meter -- more and better jobs in north america but precisely by improving nafta we can achieve that. the other reason is that over the course of the last 25 years, nafta has become really the backbone in my view, of the overall north american relationship, and whatever happens with nafta is going to pretty much set the tone beyond the economic consequences of the north american region and the north american relation, whether it's on security, defense, many other areas of cooperation in which in fact we have been working very well as north american partners over the last 25 years. finally, 80% of the global gdp is precisely generated in cities like the ones you lead and represent all of you majors, and whatever -- in the past days heard the expression on the part of several majors saying we are really representing where the rubber hits the road, and it's true. you have to deal with the front line in dealing with citizens and residents and communities, and over the course of the past two days i've heard it from all of the majors, how important the trading relationship among our countries is for the well-being of your communities. so, i think there's very good reasons why we need to get, yes, improved nafta, updated. modernize it but make sure we get it right and keep it going. as you know there are negotiations right now taking place in canada so i won't go into very much detail right now. i'll leave that to the experts. but i think two things -- where are we and what is the for seeable future? i will just mention briefly two comments. the first one is over the course of the last year, on the three countries the governments heard loud voices from governors, mayors, the private sector, academia, and all sorts of institutions, peoples, that have come out and say you have to get nafta right and nafta going and that has been very positive. it certainly is an important message for the three federal governments that has changed the tone over the conversation over the last year. right? private sector, wherever you talk, everywhere you go, will mostly tell in my experience, governments, please get nafta right, please keep nafta going. so that's something very important. finally, i would say there's a lot of speculation. i think that ambassador mcnaughton is right on point. we do believe we should try to get an agreement on the post important issues as soon as possible because there is a lot of investment and a lot of economic activity that is really waiting to see what happens, and it is in the best interests of the three countries to try to get that agreement as soon as possible. my own sense is that a year ago, the base scenario is one in which unfortunately we will no longer have nafta, it and was only -- that was perhaps the likely scenario and only probable that we could keep and update and modernize nafta. for many good ropes that has changed over the last year and probably the best scenario is one in which we can get an agreement. it's not going to be perfect. the three cider going to have to reach compromise on different areas but we will get an agreement in the end that is beneficial for the three countries. although it's still probable we could not, and, therefore, meetings like this and exercises like this are extremely important to keep educating federal governments about why we should keep nafta going. thank you, mayor. >> thank you. thank you, mr. ambassador. next i'd like to introduce my friend and partner in our cause, champion trade, mayor juan man well, san diego and tijuana are linked way common economy, common environment, and a shared community. we have a very powerful story to tell. we like to talk about it. and our strength and our friendship in the region and here in our nation's capital. so please hundred me welcome the tijuana mayor. >> i appreciate the invitation for this to be here, that u.s. conference of mayors. thank you very much. we're here to talk about good news. we have good news. we have -- we can prove it. we have material proof of what the nafta trade has been for our region, and we have to see ourselves as a big region. a huge region, not as three different countries looking for their own good, for their own wealth. we're against an economy, a worldwide economy, and when i say against, it's not in a -- it's just to give it a name. we have to deal with ourselves. do have problems, yes, but we can modernize it, modernize nafta, do the best for it. our ambassador, the honorable guitierrez, said we can improve it. we shouldn't discard nafta, saying it's not working. it is workingment we have jobs. we have -- let's see. me english -- i kind of get stuck with certain words. try do my best. it's competitiveness. if we're competitive we can do best things -- better things. it's not a matter of losing jobs. it's a matter of doing things right, and nevada, since 1994, the nafta trade is -- the commercial length, what we have to do. for instance, in san diego, tijuana, with mark faulconr leading the way, we sign a memorandum of understanding to work on the good issues that can bring good things to our people. first all of issue it's the people we have to look out for. do have a legal border been there since years, we do have a small barrier, physical barrier. it's been there for a long time. i can recall when it wasn't a barrier properly. it was barbed wire and people would just jump and -- it's been there. but we can do good things if we're willing to -- if there's a will, there's a way. the thing is we have to find that way and we might have discussions, we might not agree on everything, but we have to agree on one thing, it's good thing -- good things happen with nafta. i'll leave it there and i'll -- my friend, mayor, i'll talk more about this and -- we're on our way, good way to two doings, and if we can get out the message that we're doing things right, we can do things right or keep on doing good things for our people. that's the main issue. the people. our people. your people. your constituents, your -- what do we represent? we represent the people. we have to deal with this issue in behalf of the people we represent. thank you, mayor. >> thank you, mayor. keeping with our flavor of international mayors, next i'd like to introduce the mayor of edmonton and chair of the federation of canadian municipalities. big city mayors quarterbacks, -- don iverson. i appreciate everything you do. >> thank you, mayor, and ambassadors, fellow mayors, panelists, it's a privilege to be with you today and i want to express gratitude on behalf of the canadian delegation to for the warm welcome we received. my six colleagues from across canada who have been able to join you for the u.s. conference of mayors meetings here, it's -- when we sit down like this, we're reminded how much we have in common as leaders of communities. and particular on so many issues that cross borders, whether it's clean air or trade or human rights, we have common agendas, but trade in particular is top of mine for all of us these days, given the negotiations ongoing, and it's not just top of mind for mayors. it's top of mind for our investors, our business communities at home, and people who are concerned about their jobs. with the kind of uncertainty that is around us. which is challenging for business. our region trades $9 billion and we're the furthest canadian city from the border. my colleagues from cities like wind sore, and gas steno, closer to the border who trade in quebec's case in wood and paper products, trade in agriculture from saskatchewan, and for us, it's energy and professional services and engineering and construction. we all see dire consequences for our community and dire consequences or our nations if we decouple a trade relationship which has been transformative in support growth and employment in each of our three countries, and particularly pleased with the leadership that mayor faulconer and mayor gastalone have shown our interlinked cities and metropolitan regions can become in spite of borders and we know as mayor evidences we play for keeps in our local contexts you can succeed for a short time but the zero johns come together and think at the metropolitan scale and things in borderless ways and trade openly, even just within their local environs, the are the cities that thrive and succeed and grow and the cities where people are going to have good quality jobs over time, and so we are used to thinking in borderless wayns our own communities in terms of integrated approaches to trade and service delivery and you name it. as a continent we have been good at that for a long, long time, and we have gotten better at it in the last 25 years. it's an agreement that could use updating. lord knows our professional services and engineering folks and the google deep mind lab that just opened in edmonton could use updates to the labor mobility agreement. so we need to refresh our agreement. but the risk of losing it affects up to 9 million jobs in the united states connected to trade with canada two 2 million jobs on our side of the border. so that risk creates palpable uncertainty in our communities. but i am given hope by the words from our ambassadors and the knowledge that we have solidarity with u.s. conference of mayors and with leaders like mayor faulconer with my colleagues from canada we're united in articulating a strong case for free and fair trade to continue and to grow between our three nations, because we have been an example to the world in this. the world is emulating what we're doing. newer trade agreements have exceeded what we historically have done and it's time to rise to that opportunity and enhance our very special relationships, the three countries that share this continent. we can't break up. that's geographically impossible. so we're in this for the long haul, and we're all going to make out better if we can build prosperity the way we have for the last 25 years for a long time to come. so we appreciate the chance to be part of this conversation. so many jobs and so much prosperity and so much innovation and so much human potential depends on us getting this right that we really cannot jeopardize it with any incendiary or risky discussions. it's going to be hard work no doubt, but as mayors, i think we're all united up and down the continent that there's too much on the line to get it wrong. >> thank you. thank you very much. i'll open it up to fellow mayors. begin with mayor giles. >> thank you, mayor faulconer. i'm their join the core us and say there is amp evidence in mesa, arizona, that cities can take the lead on this issue in spite of negative rhetoric at the national level. we have a story in mesa i'll share very quickly. we have former air force base in our community that has three very large runways and a lot of developable property around it and we have been struggling to convert that into a commercial airport over the last couple of decaded am couple years ago we started having conversations with a wonderful company in mexico about doing more mexican trade out of our local airport. that resulted just a few months ago in the signing of an agreement between u.s. customs official and mexican custom officials to locate mexican officialed at our airport. that if will allow to us become the hub for ecommerce in mexico and in the united states and actually into all of lattin america. so now that the strong middle class economy in mexico that is striving to be part of ecommerce and enjoy the opportunity to shop in your pajamas at night and have a nice person hand you cardboard box the next morning with what you just bought, will be open to the mexican economy. that is a huge boon to my city and local economy, and so i'm here to tell you that nafta is not an international issue. it is a local issue. it has extreme impacts on the mesa, arizona, economy. during the winter month is think don sees a noticeable decline in his population because half of the people from edmonton move to mesa, arizona. if i had dollar forefeel i sang holiday 'ocanada by at all of the events go to, my budget would be doing very well, even if that are were canadian dollars, don. so, again i think it's important that the mayor friday the room realize that we can't let the federal government screw this up. our local economies are too important. we need to be loud and strong in supporting and updated nafta because it is very important to my economy. so, gentleman, thank you for what you're doing. we look forward to work very, very closely with you as local officials. >> thank you, mayor. now to the mayor from des moines. >> thank you, mayor, and like mayor giles, i think all mayors across the united states understand and believe in the importance of trade agreements and especially trying in this case to extend and improve it. exporters and business people across the country and in iowa who are involved in grain and corn and soybeans and maybe even in manufacturing little implements like john deere dot they can expert around the world, they need some other tools and let me quickly briefly articulate a concern i think that mayors and others around the united states have. the united states conference of mayors has long been a supporter of the export-import bang of the united states. we were aggressive propoint proponents for the renewal of the bank's charter which after much, discussion debate and anxious was finally approved well over two years ago. on several ocases we have had the bank's president and senior officers address our body on the key role and issues that bank works in and plays? expanding u.s. exports to global markets. as many of you know, the bank has looked a quorum on the board for it would some time due to vacancies. we have encouraged congresses to move the nominations of four very qualified people who bailiff in the mission of the back. those nominations happen now been cleared by the senate banking committee, and are waiting senate floor consideration. we did express, however, strong reservations about the nomination of the chairman of the bank, as did many businesses across the country and groups that represent them. that nomination was defeated within the banking committee. the key now is to have the nominees processed to the floor, at least one senator, who opposes the bank, has put a hold on those nominations, a task force will monitor these developments and keep everyone informed. we hope the administration will name a new nominee to head the bank. finally, let me say we are working very closely with leadership in the usem task force on infrastructure to make sure that the needs of ports are adequately addressed as congress begins consideration on the infrastructure package. mayor, thank you. >> thank you. we have a few more minutes for our discussion this morning, so thank you all. let me open it up to the floor from my fellow mayors, please introduce yourself for the audience and ask your question. good morning. >> thank you, mayor, i'm jim, the mayor of dead diana, maryland, a suburb of minneapolis. the state of minnesota and canada have a long-standing relationship. it's our biggest trading partner. we're firm believers in the benefits of nafta. if it's going to be refreshed -- you may think is this guy sounds more line a canadian than a minnesotan, it's because i grew up within 100 miles of the canadian bearder in nod so you may be comfortable over there, listening to me talk to you. we want to help but if this agreement needs refreshing, which you talked about, if there are points we need know about and i had a conversation with one of your staff people last night, marvin hildebrand, let us know how we can help. we can write letters to our newspapers and our metropolitan areas, we can happen in any other way you want us to help. certainly for us that are located north, the mother natural alignment is canada, the better pitch is with canada but for those in other parts of the country, and even for us, we have a strong connection with mexico, with a lot of strong hispanic population in the state of minnesota. so, let us know what we need to talk about with more specificity. thank you. >> i'm sensing a theme here, ladies and gentlemen. it's great. mayor go ahead. >> thank you. kerri davis from the si of san bernardino. i have one question that the ambassadors could each address it. we see thearch stumbling block or issue that separates and has the largest gap that needs to be overcome. >> i'm going to borrow from our trade minister, and assessment that he made recently on the negotiations, because i think it reflects fairly well where we and are what are the obstacles. there's a good deal, maybe up to 40% of the issues that we're talking about, or the negotiating teams of talking about, which really have to do with updating and improving the agreement and where there's really consensus on the part of the three countries. those things are, for example, taking into account that we now have ecommerce, which is significantly -- is significantly bigger than the one we had 25 years ago when the agreement was made. so we need to update the agreement nor fact we now have he-commerce. we need to update the agreement for the flak have been reform in mexico for the energy sect and telecommunication. things like that which are not controversial, they do involve a lot of work, but there's broad concept sunday, i would say, on that -- consensus, i would say, on that. and even the trade negotiation have spoke to the effect that 40% of that there's consensus. and there's a series of topics about -- other set which have to do with improving labor standards, environmental standards. those are things that we are working on, certainly in mexico, and that should probably not derail in any way the negotiations. we need -- we're all in favor with a broad idea of including better labor standards and environmental standards because we have learned over the last 25 years. i wouldn't say that there's an agreement but it's likely those thing that were part of separate agreements when nafta was signed are now going to be formally introduced in he trade agreement and they will have a little bit more teeth, if if may say so. there's another discussion going on that has to do with the fact that there's concern here about the united states trade deficit, special my in this case with mexico. what we have said is we don't share the view that the trade deficit is really the best way to measure an agreement success, and there are a series of related issues that are being seen as a way to address the deficit, whether it's rules of origin, or the idea about a national content on specific industries, where we still have not reached agreement. as ambassador mcnaughton has said, certainly mexico and canada are putting up constructive proposals to try to reach a compromise on that regard. finally, there is, for example, an issue with a sunset clause that was discussed which would mean that the agreement automatically ends every five years unless the executive branch do something. we don't think that's a good idea. we think that willian rate a lot of private un -- instant certainty in the private sector that investments require a longer term horizon. i'll stop there and give ambassador mcnaughton a chance to speak but i think that's where we are, and there are some important things in which we have great consensus and the differences are public, open, known, but the three parts i think are fully engaged in addressing them and trying to find common ground. >> i think one challenge mentioned earlier that normally trade agreements take 18 months to two years to even negotiate and then four or five years to implement. we have been in a situation where we have all felt the pressure for a variety of reasons to try and get this done in a more compacted time and that puts pressure on everybody. more difficult. the other thing is that i think historically -- i blame canada and our country as muching a anybody else -- is that the relationship has worked so well, we have just taken it for granted. anybody who has got a complaint against nafta or some trade issue has raised it with the political level, particularly here in washington, and the perception developed was that this was all bad news, and i think one of the things that happened curtsy of many of you -- courtesy of the business community, the governors and others, is that people started to speak up and say, well, actually no, there's some good things, too. a lot of good things. so that's balanced the political discussion in this country in our country and in mexico, and i think it gives all of the politics and all of the negotiators some more permission to try to fix the bad things but maintain the good things. and so i am optimistic, i really am. one of the other things just would like to add to this -- i think it's the point made earlier -- and that is that our relationship with the united states and mexico goes well beyond trade. we are working together on security, we're working together on defense. we had a meeting the other day talking about our cooperation on things like opioids, which is a curse that is striking all of us. we can -- those relationships are extraordinarily important. they go outside of nafta, but without nafta, it makes it more difficult to have those conversations. so i think everybody knows we need to make this work and we're working hard to make it work. >> you may have time for one more. >> we time for one or two more before we break. >> i'm tony martinez and i am the mayor of brownsville, texas, and so where, mayor, you're at one end of the border from mexico, i'm at the other end and we have a good ambassador, good to visit with him. i think i just wanted to kind of follow up on what our canadian ambassador is talking about, and i think one of the things we are missing the most is this relationship. i think that's the operative word women don't spend enough time with each other. i happen to be just like the mayor from tijuana and -- the ooh day something shead what's the mayor in matamoros. i don't know his full name. and it escaped me and that's just a senior moment, tom so don't hold me back. i've been around here for almost seven years, being at these conferences and this is a wonderful venue to be able to discuss these things, and i can't thank you enough for your hosting us yesterday, and i can't thank you, ambassador -- because what happens if we don't have a dialogue, we won't have anything happening, and so i encourage everybody, like from whether you're from iowa or from minnesota, wherever you are, and it's not so much about how many letters you can send to coverage it's what we do together, here, because what happens is when they see us, i mean, in my part of the country, we don't see ourselves as the people from brownsville, we see ourself -- we're all just one people, and so i encourage that kind of conversation. that kind of dialogue because i think that's the ultimately the most important part because if you don't have the passion we all have for being mayors and helping and resolving things, we won't get our message across. >> i just wanted to mention -- we had a meeting -- thank you so much, ambassador, for having us -- inviting to us canada last night. we met before and discussed some -- the possibility of some tri-lateral meetings with mexico mayors, canadian mayors and u.s.a. mayors as a followup on this. some of you may recall scott smith, the mayor of mesa, when he was our president, we were involved in those kinds of things. so, i just want you to know on behalf of the organization, we want to support you to follow up on -- to support regional meetings, and just whatever we can define with the associations. we have very strong memorandum of understanding with the mexico mayors. we were there in mexico city with mayor scott so on behalf of the organization, we appreciate this dialogue and want it to continue and be supportive as possible. >> thank you. and we'll go to our last question. just to fop up on that. when we're working together, on a bipartisan basis, yes this, is an international agreement but is a think you heard that discussion today, the effects on all of our cities is very real. it is where the rubber meets the road. we're talking got good quality jobs, relationships and strengthening relationships. yes, mayor go ahead. >> i want to thank you for your leadership in front of this task force, mayor. and both ambassadors for being here today, taking time out of your schedule, as well as the mayor of edmonton and tijuana, to ambassador mcnaughton's comment there hasn't been a good discussion about all the good things that have come out of the trade agreements. the good story is a mentioned lanight at the embassy, is that a canadian firm is moving to our community and repurposing an old industrial site. brings hundreds of new jobs, good-paying jobs, average of $75,000 with full medical benefits. in this day and age, when a company is offering full medical benefits that's a home run that its knocked out of the park and that wouldn't have happened unless there was investment in cooperation amongst cities and towns and corporations on beat sides of the geographical boundaries of our country and that's the message that needs get through. we're working partners with corporations on both side hope to boundary line and that message needs to get out because there are jobs out there people need be employed on both sides and all three countries and that is a great story to tell. matter of fact, mr. ambassador, when they're ready for the ribbon cutting you'll probably get an invitation to come up to piscataway for the ribbon cutting. >> i'll be there. >> aim the mayor for at the city of santa cruz, california, and i want to thank you for having this discussion april. side from the clear economic negative economic impacts of not having nafta, i know in our city we're 65,000, we have had canadian companies establish businesses there, and we have a lot of trade with mexico not only in manufacturing but in also agriculture. what are some things cities can do to strengthen the cultural bonds? i do feel that having that human connection with our counterparts in the north and south, makes a tremendous difference in terms of how the public sees free trade and i wonder what are the things you can recommend? >> well, you know, last night the mayor of washington was there. she had just come back from a trip to toronto with the governor of virginia and of maryland. i have been -- don and i talked about this last night -- talking about trying to develop more of those kind of relationships where you bring, whether it be a trade or cultural mission, up in exchange -- we used to have -- used to be a big thing where we had twin cities and as a teenager, i grew up in a steel city, hamilton, ontario, and we hat the games every year we would go to flint, michigan, and compete against the americans as and they would come to hamilton next year. we talked about the relationship part. those things increasingly importantment everybody gets busy and i just think we need do more of that. think the other thing i'd just like to say and that is that so often you think that your voice doesn't matter, that you got to just take care of your backyard and what you say about national or international event doesn't matter. it does, and it's really important for all of to us speak up in the next several months and it's not just the short-term thing. it's a long-term thing. we are neighbors, friends, allies, partners. we need to reinforce that in an ongoing basis, and i think that's not just about trade. it's about human relationships that are really important to foster. >> thank you. mayors, we have to conclude on that note. i want to that thank both ambassadors for taking their time today and their remarks, please join me. [applause] lastly on the timing, how important it is from the local voices as mayors to continue to be heard on that bipartisan basis next several months are critical. thank you for coming to today's session. with that we'll stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> where are you from? >> the moment itself i described at the time and i still describe is as a bizarre moment. i was surprised when he called me over but he is the president of the united states and you're in he oval office so if he says who you come over here, you don't have an option. >> sunday, on q & a, katrina perry talking about cover president trump and his supporters for at the irish media during and after the 2016 presidential election season. in her book "in america." >> drain the swamp has three words evocative and you know immediately kind of what he is talking being and i see it playing on the notion that d.c. was built on a swamp, and training taking it the horrible people that live there and replacing it with better people and that was something that friend or foes believed him or not or believed he could fulfill that or not, they were prepared for take a chance on it. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q & a. >> the president of the united states. >> tuesday night, president donald trump gives his firs state of the union address to come and the nation. join us on c-span for preview of the evening starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. then the state of the union speech like at 9:00 p.m. following the speech the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy. we'll hear your reaction and comments from members of congress. president trump's state of the union address tuesday night live on c-span, listen live on the free c-span radio app and available live or on demand on your desk top, phone or tablet, at c-span2.org. >> now an update on hurricane recovery efforts from the mayors of houston, key west, and ponce, puerto rico, hear from deputy homeland security secretary, elaine duke. this is an hour. >> let's call this session to order. if everybody who is -- all right. whoever is going to be in, get in. whoever is going to not, don't. all right. thank you all. thank you all so much. can i have everybody's attention in the room, please. thank you so much. i