It was signed into effect by president clinton in 93 and became enforced in 94. With 20 years of experience, the question that scott has put to me, what has significance for the future . Making this assessment, i think we need to be clear about what the agreement actually did. It was the First Comprehensive trade agreement to join developing and developed countries. Reaching wider and deeper market openings. Industrial goods guaranteeing unrestricted agricultural trade between the United States and mexico. Opening a range of Services Including financial services. It was the First International trade agreement to do that and it established clear rules to protect the rights of investors by prohibiting barriers such as local content restrictions and import substitution requirements. As a result of the market openings that this agreement created, the activity between the three nations exploded. The single largest export market, 98 of their Energy Services and products. More than 8 million u. S. Jobs depend on our trade with canada. Mexico is our second largest export market and some 6 million u. S. Jobs depend on our trade with mexico. A highly efficient and integrated supply chain has developed among the north american economies. Interregional trade flows have increased to about 290 billion dollars in 1993 and over 1 trillion in 2012. More than 1 billion a day cross our southern border. About half of our trade with canada and mexico take place between related companies. And the resulting specialization has increased productivity in all three economies. We not only sell things to one another, we make things together. Quite remarkably, for every dollar of goods, . 25 of u. S. Input is in canadian goods that come across our border. And . 40 of mexican goods is u. S. Content that comes across our border. And with china, it is four cents. Mexico has made a substantial investment in the United States signing the nafta in sectors of cement, bread, dairy, and retail. And u. S. Investment in mexico has grown substantially, about half of it in the Manufacturing Sector. Most of that in the auto sector. And much of the output in our investments in canada and mexico come back to us which add to our competitiveness and production of final products. Canada has invested about 200 billion in the United States which makes it the fifth largest investor and we have invested 310 billion in canada to become its largest investor. In spite of this really Remarkable Growth that can be traced to the opening of the regional markets, the agreement still has critics. Most that attack nafta focus on mexico, not on canada. We claim that the partnership is onesided. That the agreement is mexicos gain and americas pain. But having mexico as a nafta partner has served u. S. Economic interests extremely well. Last year, 13 of our nations total exports went to mexico. That is succeeding sales to brazil, india, china, and russia combined. Mexico buys more goods than all the rest of latin america combined. And goods bought by germany, great britain, france, and the netherlands combined. I think it is generally agreed that the market openings created a substantial increase related to exports. An average of 15 25 more that are domestically focused. And with 113 Million Consumers with purchasing power of over 1 trillion, mexico offers opportunities that are quite substantial to entrepreneurs whether they be large or small. It is a large that particularly benefit from mexicos proximity and it has opened up to our trade. Mexicans purchase 11 of the exports produced by small and Mediumsized Enterprises that account for more than half of this nations job creation. And making this economic picture even brighter for every dollar that mexico earns from its exports worldwide, it spends . 50 on u. S. Goods. The economic integration that has occurred among the three north american economies in the past two decades has made the north american region one of the most competitive in the world. The rest of the world is not standing still. Supply chains circle the globe. The United States has proliferated. Continuing to open Global Markets to investment ideas and people originating in this hemisphere and ensuring that our supply chains work at maximum efficiency. There are actions that we could take that would maximize opportunities to build on the nafta platform and create new commercial opportunities, cut costs, create jobs, and generate substantial economic benefit of all of our citizens. If we evaluate the benefits, we can assess the potential benefits not only from a national basis, but from a regional basis lest we lose substantial opportunities by using the nafta platform. It was a positive development that will better enable us to take positions and maintain the competitiveness of the north america region. As we move forward to negotiate the transatlantic trade and Investment Partnership with 28 states that comprise the european union, we would benefit substantially from having mexico and canada join those negotiations. I think the reason for doing so is very persuasive. It would strengthen the agreement, give it more have to buy at a 100 50 Million Consumers and 1 trillion in gdp, thus expanding market opportunities. Second, it would reduce the complexity if the neighbors are excluded. Mexico already has a Free Trade Agreement with europe and has had one since the year 2000. Canada announced it negotiated a trade agreement this past october. Having to deal with three separate agreements with different rules of origin would not only create a headache but unnecessary cost burdens for consumers. It would erode the unique and hugely beneficial economic integration that we have achieved as a result of nafta. Having all three north american governments purchase a paid in the negotiation would give us all an opportunity to upgrade and expand nafta. Significant advances have occurred in the area of data flow, telecommunications, and other areas not on the table when we negotiated the north american Free Trade Agreement. It would provide us another opportunity to provide Greater Regulatory coherence. Between the u. S. And europe is about three percent. Higher in some areas. It is burdensome and quite different on both sides of the atlantic. It facilitated president penas economic reform that we so strongly support. Pointing to the benefits that mexico could potentially gain from this mega agreement to be rather similar to how president salinas used nafta to begin economic reforms. As we move forward in the 21st century, we need to take steps. We can educate populations about the benefits that can result from thinking about and dealing with trade and Investment Opportunities not only as a single nation but also as a highly integrated region that north america has to come. There is no better time than the 20th anniversary of nafta to move forward on this. I am grateful to csi ask for picking up the banner and starting the process. Thank you for being here and i look forward to listening to the panel. [applause] i would like to invite the panel to come forward. We have several experts in the north american region to discuss this topic today. I am delighted to be joined ambassador hill made the comment that a lot of people would like to do this very thing. We will do that. It is my great pleasure to turn this panel over to our moderator. The ambassador is our Senior International partner. And as both her priority Government Service and after Government Service have helped u. S. Businesses deal with the north american Free Trade Agreement. I look forward to listening to the panel. [applause] rex. I would like the panel to come forward. We have several experts in the north american region to discuss this topic today. I am delighted to be joined ambassador hill made the comment that a lot of people would like to do this very thing. We will do that. It is my great pleasure to turn this panel over to our moderator. The ambassador is our Senior International partner. And as both her priority Government Service and after Government Service have helped u. S. Businesses deal with the north american Free Trade Agreement. Thanks so much, scott. Let me start by congratulating carla on her remarks and for her tenure. Let me also say that every organization builds a new building. The peterson institute, new building. Council on foreign relations, new building. Csi ask, new building. If you live csis, new building. If you live here and think were in decline, thats why. Its timely, thank you for your work on nafta and so many trade initiatives. I thought i would make a few remarks. Let me also knowledge another former and one of the great people of washington, truly. Let me start by recalling what kennedy said about canada. It applies with equal force to mexico. Hello, jim. It could introduce all of you to each other. John kennedy said with respect to canada, geography has made us neighbors, history has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies. One of the strongest concrete expressions of this observation is nafta. As carla said, it is deeper than any previous freetrade agreement. They began to tackle issues of labor in the environment that were new to the trade agenda. It was the first between the developed and developing country. It included robust enforcement measures that was a precursor to the wto at the same time that they fail to have. Overall, they have more than tripled since the agreement took effect and it topped the trillion dollar mark for the first time in 2011. With respect to mexico, twoway trade has surged over 500 compared to half of that for nonnafta countries. This is one of the most enduring contributions to economic competitiveness. The accompanying growth. Today, more and more Manufacturing Processes span both sides of the border and factories are able to achieve greater economies of scale. Mexican per capita gdp more than doubled and we have seen a fivefold increase into mexico from the United States. With respect to canada, twoway trade has also increased. About the same as trade globally, but bear in mind canada darted from a very high base. It was already our number one trading partner when nafta was negotiated. The 270 increase is saying a lot. In addition, if you look at specific sectors of trade, the agreement with canada has proven extraordinarily beneficial on both sides. Agriculture and twoway trade has tripled compared to non nafta countries. And today, canada is the single largest market for u. S. Agricultural products. Mexico is number two. Nafta has been a resounding economic success and has enhanced north american competitiveness and cooperation. There is quite a bit of room for improvement. Korea is a good example, a chorus of agreement with far more robust disciplines in areas like state owned enterprises. And nafta never addressed the 21st century challenges. There was no internet when it was negotiated. Social media, there was no social media. Crossborder data flows, not an issue. Biotechnology was not an issue. Nafta is beginning to show its age. And without repair, it will erode. There are also areas where nafta hasnt achieved its promise. If you look at i. T. , canada has provided Innovative Pharmaceutical Companies with only a very limited right to appeal marketing approvals for generics. Canadian courts have been opposing very high utility requirements for patents, discriminating against innovative pharmaceuticals. Canada was on the ip priority watch list with russia and canada. Canada has since graduated to the ordinary watchlist, but come on. Nobody should be on any watch list areas like this. These deficiencies need to be cleaned up. Another area is security related and security restrictions on the flow of goods and people. In the wake of 9 11, Border Security increased to such an extent that it began to hamper trade, create long wait times at the border and prevent goods and workers from crossing freely. We certainly need to ensure security, but we also need to ensure that border bureaucracy does not unnecessarily stifle economic growth. Many items that are and should be on the trilateral agenda to ensure that the foundational status is maintained for the good of all three countries. I think it would be unwise and unnecessary to reopen it formally. I dont see any particular point in that, but if think there are four main paths for building upon that success and updating. First, targeted solutions for specific outstanding irritants in the trade relationship. Movement of personnel is an example. The Obama Administration should rededicate itself to effectively using bilateral forums including the forums it self has created which have been underutilized and are not yet producing concrete results. We should make incremental improvements including chapter by chapter updates of agreements as needed, particularly where those can be implemented by regulation rather than legislation. These kinds of updates can be negotiated in the existing forums and working groups and can take their cue from more recent fta and agreements on the table. We can use it as a vehicle to enhance nafta discipline. Canada, mexico, and the u. S. Are all parties that would involve services, investments, competition policy, and the range of 21st century issues. Where it imposes a higher standard, i think it should be the governing discipline in north america. Where it conflicts with nafta but does not impose a higher standard, the nafta parties should negotiate as needed to resolve the conflict. This approach would make it possible to dramatically improve upon it while maintaining its primacy in north america. And we can use it as a potential template for enhanced talks on regulatory harmonization among nafta countries. To a certain extent, regulatory talks are underway in the forums that have been created. They can provide a much more robust example and provide a template for accelerating and deepening regulatory reform. These strategies, targeted solutions, chapter improvements, the agreements can in sure the vibrancy of nafta while most importantly driving convergence between the legal frameworks governing trade in north america, europe, and asia. Convergence here is absolutely the key. It will facilitate greater consistency and treatment and outcomes and avoid the regional balkanization of trade. Convergence will help guarantee the future of north american competitiveness globally and ensure that our Trilateral Partnership remains robust and forwardlooking. With that, i would like to turn to our distinguished panelists that i will now introduce. Laura dawson on my left is the founder of an ottawabased consulting form specializing in investment in regulatory issues. She was previously a Senior Adviser on Economic Affairs in ottawa and also keeps one foot in academia serving as a Public Policy scholar. Second is chris wilson, an associate at the Woodrow Wilson center where he develops research and programs on racial and economic integration. He is also the author of working together, economic ties between the u. S. And mexico and is co author of the state of the border report, published by the wilson center. Our third panelist is another chris. Senior fellow at the Hudson Institute or he specializes on u. S. Canada relations. He also teaches at johns hopkins, the American University school of public affairs, the state departments Foreign Service institute and at the department of homeland security. He is a frequent commentator on print and on television. Last but not least, our captain. Scott is Senior Advisor for international business. Before that, he was the director of global trade policy at Procter Gamble where he led i think every campaign supporting u. S. Freetrade agreements. He also served as liaison and a state Department Advisory committee on International Economic wallace he. He has been economic policy. He has been and remains a leader in our field. So please, laura. I think if you will forgive me a minute, i will catch my breath and be dazzled. It is quite an honor that these two women have led the United States and canada through many important trade initiatives and it is a bit overwhelming for a trade professor to be the third speaker. I would also like to thank scott for the invitation to speak this morning and putting this program together. It is lovely to see so many friends and colleagues from canada, mexico, the United States, this is like the nafta allstar team in this room. If i say anything wrong, please throw something at me. We are here because we were involved in the creation of a report commissioned by the government of canada. We were to do some thinking about the future of nafta and a framework for north american competitiveness. There is no doubt, based on your own knowledge and the comments made by ambassadors this morning, nafta was and is a very successful agreement. Establishing a framework for regional trade agreements when there were few, if any models prior to that. But as both of our speakers have said, it is an