Mike Thompson: “Yes, I would. I would wonder how we would view it if Canadians passed a law saying that American trucks had to buy…”

“Yes, I would. I would wonder how we would view it if Canadians passed a law saying that American trucks had to buy insurance from companies that were domiciled in Mexico. I can't imagine anything that would be more contrary to the spirit I just described a minute ago. My understanding is--and the Senator can correct me if I am wrong--we can implement the agreement in several different ways. We are not bound; we can even do it different ways with regard to different trading partners, as long as it is an implementation under the circumstances that are presented in order to protect ourselves in ways we think are appropriate and reasonable. But we can't change the requirements of the agreement. That seems to me to be a flatout change of the requirements--basic requirements of the agreement, and it goes contrary to the spirit and the letter of the law with regard to that agreement. Under the agreement, you simply can't treat different trading partners in different ways or change the terms or the requirements of the agreement.”