 Hello and welcome, and thank you all for being here. A year and a half ago, with rising questions about the future of NAFTA, I was asked how we would respond. My answer was that we'd respond as Canadians always have in uncertain times. We'd be constructive and reasonable, but we'd also be firm. We'd protect our interests and promote our values. We'd show determination and also flexibility and we would remain united. And ultimately, we'd emerge stronger. That's exactly what we did. Last night, Canada reached an agreement in principle with the United States and Mexico on a modernized and updated North American Free Trade Agreement. It will now be called the USMCA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It's an agreement that, when enacted, will be good for Canadian workers, good for Canadian business, and good for Canadian families. It's an agreement that removes uncertainty for our manufacturers and investors and improves labour rights for all North Americans. And it's an agreement that will be profoundly beneficial for our economy, for Canadian families, and for the middle class. When we began the work of updating NAFTA, we kept our focus on what really matters. The new agreement would need to preserve jobs, foster growth, expand the middle class, and support people working hard to join the middle class. It also needed to be fair, which meant that it would have to preserve the fundamental principle of the original agreement, which is that when your trading partner is 10 times your size, you need rules. You need a level playing field. Unless the new agreement achieved those objectives, we wouldn't sign it. Simply put, the new agreement had to be good for Canada and for Canadians. Because the success of commercial agreements is not measured with data or statistics, but by the way they help improve people's lives, by their ability to protect workers' jobs and to create new ones, by the possibility that our small and medium-sized companies will lose the North American markets, by the new opportunities that those who work hard and by the way these opportunities are offered to everyone, and take advantage of the greatest number. We must say that the modernization of the NAFTA has not been a single step. Some say that it is not possible to do it and that we should accept any agreement. That is not what we have done. We have insisted on obtaining a good agreement. Like all important negotiations, we have made compromises. And I admit it, some have been more difficult than others. We have never thought that it would be easy. It has not been the case either. But today is a good day for Canada. It is by concentrating on the creation of opportunities and the growth of the middle class that we have come here. While preserving the most important parts of the NAFTA, those that favour the success of companies and the equity for Canadians. And I want to stress, Canada got here because we kept our focus and our collective resolve, even when some were recommending we capitulate. A word of caution. We're not yet at the finish line. This agreement still needs to be ratified in Mexico, in the United States and in Canada. But what I can say is that free and fair trade in North America, a trading zone that accounts for more than a quarter of the world's economy with just 7% of its population, is in a much more stable place than it was yesterday. We now have a path forward. This is an extraordinarily complex agreement, just as the original NAFTA was. But let me sum up what it means. It means that when this agreement is enacted, NAFTA will be preserved, updated, modernized, and stabilized for the 21st century, as we set out to do. It means Canadian workers and their families will enjoy greater opportunities than ever before. And more prosperity means more resources to invest in things like housing, healthcare, and a more secure retirement for our seniors. Alongside our new European and Trans-Pacific trade agreements, today we are securing a higher standard of living long into the future for the people of Canada. Before I ask Minister Freeland to get into some of the details of the agreement, I want to express my gratitude. We are very grateful to all the people from every corner of the country, from all walks of life, from all political points of view, who joined us in this effort, who supported and sustained it through the past 13 months. Especially and particularly, I have to thank every Canadian, and there were thousands of them, who wrote letters and emails, and who stopped me in the street to say, keep at it, stay strong, we are with you. I want to thank the Premiers, the leaders from industry and labour, Brian Mulroney and his original NAFTA negotiating team, and other former Prime Ministers, members of our NAFTA Council. Thank you all for your support, your advice, and your patriotism. Minister Freeland, Christian, for your tireless, relentless efforts, for your dedication, your hard work, not only in the past five weeks, but in the past 19 months. Thank you, and thank you to your family as well. I know, like so many of our families, Graham, Natalka, Halina, and Ivan missed you a bit, but knew you were doing extraordinarily important work. We owe you all a debt of gratitude. No minister in a generation has been given a more difficult task than this one, and you delivered. Chief Negotiator Steve Verhul, who's here in the room with us, thank you, Steve, for being so extraordinary, so focused, and such a great Canadian. Everything you did, every step of the way, got us to this point. And David McNaughton in Washington, on the front lines of the conversations with Congress, with the administration, with stakeholders in the United States. David, you have been an extraordinary resource friend and a valuable asset to all Canadians as we've moved forward on this together. I also want to thank Ambassador Bob Lighthizer. He is a tough, principled negotiator, a veteran of 40 years of trade agreements, but he also understands and appreciates Canada. It's fair to say that this would not have come together without him. Likewise, the Secretary, Ildefonso Guajardo of Mexico. Muchas gracias, amigo. I'd like now to turn it over to Christia, Minister Freeland. Thank you very much, Prime Minister. And thank you for your resolve and your leadership and your patriotism. They have been at the heart of our work and the foundation of everything. I'm really grateful. And thank you, everyone, for being here. I want to start by echoing the Prime Minister's sentiment and his thanks to everyone. Above all, our outstanding trade negotiators. They are amazing and I am very grateful, very, very grateful. And I also want to thank the trade negotiators from the other two countries. This has really been 24-7 for a lot of people for a long time. People have gone above and beyond the call of duty and I'm really, really grateful. I said when we began that there would be moments of drama and there have been. Through it all, Ambassador Leitheiser has been a professional, reliable and trustworthy counterpart. And I can say, especially after the past few weeks of very intense negotiations, what we called our continuous negotiation, he's someone I consider a friend. Thank you, Bob. Mexico's Secretary de Fonso Guajardo has likewise been a valued and respected counterpart and I consider him to be a friend, too. Thank you very much, Secretary de Fonso. So, here's what today's agreement will achieve. First of all, and this is the most important thing, it keeps the free trade at the level of the North American continent, as well as the access to the regional market of a value of $25 billion, which counts 470 million people and in size has tripled since the creation of Alenna in 1993. At the same time, it protects us against the spectrum of trade rights on the automobile sector, which is planning on our economy and the improvements of good jobs that will be well compensated on both sides of the border. In itself, it's a victory for Canadians. First of all, it keeps the access to the largest majority of Canadian exports to the American market. It doesn't mean that we're not going to continue to diversify our exchanges across the world. It's certain that we're going to continue to do it, but it will allow us to solidify our position within the North American market, which is particularly important to us, while we will continue to expand our access to markets in other countries. This agreement is good for hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers. Not only does it preserve the essential transportation chains, but it considerably improves the salaries and rights of Mexican workers. In concrete terms, it's more equitable for automobile workers in cities like Windsor or Ochoa. It helps to guarantee their future. This agreement is also the cultural exception demanded by Canada, especially in the digital space that protects our cultural industries from more than 650,000 employees across the country. It keeps our Canadian identity unique and our bilingual character. Let me cite one of my favorite prime ministers, Louis Sanloral, who said in 1953, speaking of America. We know it is not your wish to have on your border a mere replica of your own country, but rather a self-respecting community faithful to its own ways. We are thus better neighbors because self-respect is the key to respect for others. I think he put that very well. And there is something that is extremely important, and of which I think we can all be particularly proud. Today's agreement fully upholds the impartial dispute resolution of Chapter 19 of the original NAFTA. When there is a disagreement over trade, it goes to an independent binational panel, and that panel gets to decide. Without Chapter 19, many of you will remember, there would have been no NAFTA in the first place. In fact, Canada has had the opportunity to have several meetings, particularly in the context of the different ones on the chest of the resin, to ensure the equitable treatment of Canadian workers. The Prime Minister has already said, and I want to remind him, that we must preserve the rules based on trade. The United States is ten times bigger than us. It was absolutely necessary to keep the mechanisms of the different rules, and we have done so. Canadian workers, their families and their communities can count on the full support of our government. It has not changed since the start of negotiations. I will count on it. This agreement preserves and maintains the management system of the offer. It proves a certain liberalisation of market access, similar to that of the CITA and the PTP, already concluded. But the future of the management of the offer is not in place. To achieve the effects of these changes, the government promises our producers that they will be fully and precisely compensated for all losses in the market. The government will also work with them to strengthen their industry even more. In addition, our consultations with the Lackey producers have convinced us to form a new working group with industrial intervenants to formulate a strategy that will allow us to maintain the figure of our Lackey industry today and tomorrow. The original NAFTA contained a clause that eroded Canada's sovereign control over our energy resources, known as the Proportionality Clause. That's now gone. We also fought for, and won, administrative changes that will save the oil patch more than $60 million a year in burdensome fees and costs. The investor state dispute resolution system that has allowed companies to sue the Canadian government is also gone between Canada and the United States. Known as ISDS, it has cost Canadian taxpayers more than $300 million in penalties and legal fees. ISDS elevates the rights of corporations over those of sovereign governments. In removing it, we have strengthened our government's right to regulate in the public interest to protect public health and the environment, for example. We have a new enforceable environment chapter that upholds air quality and fights marine pollution. And, pivotally, we have reached an agreement on cars and car parts inspired by creative Canadian ideas which, as some of you will remember, we put forward in our talks in Montreal back in January. That was a key turning point in this negotiation and one which made all of the subsequent progress possible. Since the auto pact, Canada has been an integral and essential part of the North American auto industry with its highly integrated supply chains. We fought for that, and we have preserved it and created opportunities for growth. Let me turn it over back to the Prime Minister. Thank you, Christia. I'm looking forward to signing this agreement with Presidents Trump and Peña Nieto. And I really would like to stress this point. This will be good for workers in all three of our countries. In the last few months, I spoke with Canadians who are working and admirable in companies across the country. I would like to say to them, we have heard. Indeed, when the executive agreements on the rights of this agreement will be in vigour, it will be the most important progressive reform for North American workers in a generation. Moreover, as a Quebecois, I know at what point the cultural and essential exception is essential to preserving our identity and continuing to strengthen our culture. Of course, the agreement also includes several other aspects that are complex. Our team has still a lot of work to do, and nothing is still guaranteed, because Canada does not decide what happens to the American Congress or the Mexican Senate. The last year has been marked by a lot of uncertainty, and I would like to say it frankly, some concerns persist. That said, today's announcement is a big step forward. It is the way we must follow to enter a new era of prosperity and economic stability in North America for the good of millions of people who depend on a flourishing economy to support the needs of their families and ensure a better future for their children. These negotiations were now behind us. We can go forward with the certainty that our economy is solid and that it will remain. At the same time, we will continue to diversify our trade exchanges in other markets around the world. Along with CETA, our European trade deal, the CPTPP, our Trans-Pacific Accord, and Canada's other trade agreements, Canadians now benefit from free trade with one and a half billion consumers around the world representing two-thirds of the global economy. This is a very good position to be in. Add to this the fact that Canada is the only G7 country that has free trade agreements with every other G7 country. We will therefore continue to be extremely well placed for our businesses to reach new markets, hire new workers, and provide ever greater opportunities for Canadians. From Singapore to Kiev, from the northernmost point of the Americas to the southernmost, we are part of a global free trade network governed by rules that benefits consumers and workers alike. The fact is, when it comes to trade, our businesses are thriving right now. Our merchandise exports hit an all-time high in June, the highest in our history. And middle-class families are benefiting from that success. Unemployment is at a 40-year low. These are the conditions we have preserved and will improve with this agreement. My friends, Canadians are among the most enterprising and innovative people on the planet. We have a lot more work to do, but we are on the right track. We didn't get here by accident. Throughout these negotiations, we are, and we all, governments and Canadians, remained focused on what matters most, building opportunity for workers and for their families. Our government's purpose, first, last, and always, is to create the conditions to grow a stronger middle class and improve opportunities for Canadians. That is what we achieved today. It's an important step in the right direction, and it is something of which we and our partners can be very proud.