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Good morning. Buenos días. Bonjour.

Three decades ago, Canada, Mexico, and the United States made history.

With NAFTA, we “Three Amigos” established the world’s largest free trade zone.

We created millions of jobs.

We enabled an extraordinary economic expansion.

And showed that by breaking down barriers, we build opportunity for people.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who negotiated the deal, reflected back on what NAFTA has meant for Canada:

“The benefits have been spread over our entire economy. […] It helped modernize our economy and got Canadians to be much more outward thinking and self-confident that they could trade with the best in the world and win.”

That’s what free and fair trade does.

It opens doors.

It expands horizons.

It creates the best possible outcomes for people and for businesses.

And let’s be clear, it wasn’t just Canada that won.

NAFTA was never a zero-sum game; it has always been win-win-win.

With it, we unleashed the flow of goods and services between our economies to unprecedented levels.

We quadrupled trade on this continent, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

Over the past three decades, our economy has changed. A lot.

We’ve gone from fax machines to smartphones in almost every pocket.

That has created whole new sectors and changed the way we do business.

We’ve weathered crises, booms, and busts.

And, most recently, we’ve faced a global pandemic that wrought economic turmoil on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

Entire sectors shutdown virtually overnight: tourism, hospitality, culture.

The economy re-oriented itself to keep people safe.

People worked from home; businesses underwent massive changes; and our health care sector withstood ‒ and continues to withstand ‒ incredible pressure, with workers who continue to be heroes, day in and day out.

It took its toll, whether you were a student, a worker, a business owner, or a parent.

That one year, 2020, added a few years to all our lives.

But as people pulled together, we saw the best in one another.

And since then, all three countries have undergone strong recoveries, thanks in part to our strong trading relationships.

Free and fair trade has made us resilient and continues to foster extraordinary growth on our continent.

Let me give you a few numbers:

On our shared 22 million square kilometres, home to nearly half a billion people, we do over a trillion dollars of trade with each other, every year.

Combined, NAFTA has a GDP higher than the entire European Union (EU).

Our integrated continental economy is an advantage unlike any other.

We must never take that for granted.

A few years ago, you may remember, there were those who attempted to throw the certainty of our trading relationship into disarray.

Motivated by protectionist, isolationist, nativist politics, they were willing to put millions of jobs at stake, in each of our countries.

Our historic trade deal was in peril, so we re-opened it.

In the negotiations, the United States repeatedly tried to play off Canada and Mexico against each other.

But Canada always believed that our greatest strength was in all three parties negotiating in unison.

We understood that North American free trade was about good and fair integration, across the continent.

Business leaders, investors, and workers understood this too.

We held fast to our belief that in the face of economic uncertainty, growth doesn’t come by turning inwards and putting up walls.

It comes from welcoming new opportunities, opening up to workers and investors, and making economic activity easier, not harder.

So we rolled up our sleeves. We protected NAFTA, and even improved it.

More protections for our environment. New opportunities for small businesses. Stronger standards for workers.

Because trade is ultimately about people.

It’s about a nickel miner in Sudbury, a steel worker in Pittsburgh, and a car part manufacturer in Chihuahua who all have good jobs because our auto-making supply chains are working well.

It’s about a farmer here, in Mexico, having easy access to Canadian consumers. And vice versa.

With food prices going up around the world, it’s worth pointing out that NAFTA has helped lower food prices.

Without our free trade, billions in import fees would be passed on to consumers.

By integrating our economies, we’re making them more dynamic, supporting workers, creating jobs, and helping tackle the cost of living.

There is a lot of uncertainty now, and ahead.

We’re seeing Putin’s illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine that is worsening the global food and energy crisis.

People around the world are suffering from hunger and cold right now, because of it.

We’re seeing the devastation of climate change and increasing costs of natural disasters.

We’re seeing democracy backslide globally, and a rise in authoritarian leaders.

We’re seeing fears exploited, and young people, like those who attend this university, wondering what kind of world they’re going to inherit.

There are historic challenges before us.

And the choices we make today will ripple across generations.

So let’s think like people did back when they signed the original NAFTA.

They couldn’t know all the changes and challenges we would face.

But they knew that growing our economies, and deepening our ties, would give us all the stability and certainty we needed to weather any storm.

Not only that: they knew that an integrated economy put us in the best possible position to grab any and all opportunities, including those they couldn’t even imagine yet.

And just look at what is happening now.

Our global work to tackle climate change is bringing about the greatest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution.

That means booming new sectors.

And the modernization of traditional sectors.

It is happening at an incredible pace and scale across our continent.

And all of it supports, and creates, good jobs.

Let me give you some examples of what that means in Canada:

Over the last two years, we’ve made strategic investments with partners like ArcelorMittal and Rio Tinto that will see Canada produce even more of the cleanest steel and aluminum in the world.

This is creating a brighter future for our workers, and for the next generation of workers.

We’re investing in wind, solar, hydrogen, and carbon capture technologies, so we can produce cleaner energy.

Last year, we attracted investments, from around the world, for electric vehicle manufacturing and critical minerals that have secured around 17,000 jobs.

Just last month, GM opened Canada’s first-ever full-scale electric vehicle manufacturing plant, re-energizing a community, and giving our autoworkers even more confidence in their future. And in their kids’ futures.

And we launched a Critical Minerals Strategy, because Canada is rich with the resources needed for electric vehicles, clean energy, and digital technology.

Canada’s best-in-class resource workers are an essential part of the electric vehicle auto manufacturing supply chain, here in North America.

Our natural resource workers, the best in the world, are essential.

And critical minerals are not just for electric vehicles.

Laptops and smartphones need batteries too.

Clean energy sources like hydroelectricity, solar panels, and wind turbines also rely on critical minerals.

One thing is certain:

Canada is ready to be the reliable clean energy and technology supplier a net-zero world will need.

And we’ll do it with our North American partners ‒ both businesses and governments.

The economy of the future will also be shaped by new forefronts in technology and innovation.

It’s something I know the students and scholars at CENTRO are right at the centre of.

They’re helping shape the innovation economy and the creative economy.

And I’m sure they’ll be leaders in new sectors we haven’t even thought of yet.

We need to keep building an economy that works for all North Americans.

That creates good middle-class jobs of all types.

And that young people see a bright future in.

Collaboration is key.

It gives our creators, entrepreneurs, farmers, and manufacturers access to new markets.

It fosters competition, benefitting people with lower prices and more choice.

It builds supply chains that are both efficient and resilient.

It makes our economies more vibrant.

And it creates stable economic cooperation among friends ‒ friends who share a belief in equality, democracy, and rules-based trade.

As former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who implemented NAFTA, said:

“Trade, by being mutually beneficial, gives each party a stake in the well-being of the other.”

We can never underestimate just how valuable our reliable and stable trading relationships are.

They give confidence to investors, to workers, and to the people who want to build big things on this continent.

Of course, like all friends, we’ll have our disagreements from time to time.

But overall things are working very well.

And Canadians see that.

That’s because we have worked hard to make sure the benefits of economic growth are felt across the economy. That’s important.

When the economy grows, we need to make sure that everyone shares in the benefits of that growth.

Of course, some sectors will benefit from trade more than others.

But that is why we need to reinvest the benefits of growth in people.

We need to invest in education, health care, social programs that help the vulnerable.

We need to put our prosperity to emerging industries so that we can create new jobs and forge opportunities.

We need to grow our middle class so that we can have a more resilient and stable economy.

This isn’t just good for people. It’s good for businesses.

When the benefits of growth are tangibly felt in our communities, by the citizens who vote for the direction of the country, businesses thrive.

A more stable society is one where people with good jobs trust that those good jobs are going to stick around.

And businesses, in return, benefit from the generations of workers who bring knowledge, dedication, and pride to the job.

Businesses are implanted within communities. And when people feel that loyalty, and share in the benefits of growth, they are loyal in return.

A more fair and optimistic society is one where bottom lines are stronger.

Of course, when the world is uncertain, it’s human nature to look inwards. To feel the pull of protectionist urges. To want to hunker down and let the storm blow past.

But, as governments and leaders, we need to be wise enough to recognize that giving into those voices is not the way to overcome our challenges.

Putting up trade barriers is putting up barriers to growth. And that doesn’t help anyone.

We three countries have all the ingredients we need to be successful.

And by working together, we can continue to unleash the enormous potential in our people and in our resources.

Canada is a trading nation.

This is a truism that goes back hundreds of years to the earliest interactions between Indigenous Peoples and Europeans, when trappers traded furs for food, and other goods.

And it remains true today.

We have free trade agreements with 51 countries and are the only G7 country to have free trade agreements with all other G7 countries.

We have investment treaties with all 28 EU member states.

Simply put: Canadian businesses have preferential access to two thirds of the global economy.

It’s easy to see why so many companies want to do business in Canada:

We have the most highly educated workforce in the OECD; a sound financial system; favourable tax rates; world-class universities; and a highly competitive research and development environment.

On top of all that, Canada has universal health care, affordable child care, vibrant cities, and ever-increasing areas of protected nature.

And, importantly, strong democratic institutions.

We are a reliable partner, with an abundance of talent, a very attractive investment climate, and a great quality of life.

Since 1993, trade between Canada and Mexico has increased more than nine-fold.

And recent data shows that in the first three quarters of last year, Canada was the second-largest source of new foreign direct investment in Mexico, ahead of Spain.

There’s huge potential for growth between our countries.

So let’s continue this momentum.

Let’s keep doing what leaders did a generation ago: Hold fast to our belief in open trade and collaboration.

Having quoted both a Canadian Prime Minister and a Mexican President, I’ll give you one more quote from Bill Clinton in 1993 when NAFTA legislation passed in the US:

“We are on the verge of a global economic expansion that is sparked by the fact that the United States, at this critical moment, decided that we would compete, not retreat.”

Let’s keep forging ahead and pursue more growth for our economies.

Growth that includes everyone.

Growth that creates good jobs and strengthens the middle class.

Growth that means our air and water is clean.

Growth that is shared among friends and makes Mexicans, Americans, and Canadians even stronger.

Thank you. Gracias. Merci.