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The survey of 48 randomly selected executives of FP500 companies took a broad look at subjects ranging from emerging technology to the #MeToo movement and cannabis legalization. Trade, however, was a big area of concern.

A little more than half (52 per cent) of the executives said they viewed the 24-year-old NAFTA deal as better for the economy than the new deal, branded the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, by U.S. President Donald Trump. Just five per cent believed the new agreement was better for the economy, while a third of respondents viewed the two deals as the same.

Asked to evaluate just the USMCA’s effect on the Canadian economy, nearly 40 per cent said it would be positive, while 36 per cent believed it would be negative.

“It’s possible that what they are saying is that NAFTA is technically a better agreement than the USMCA, but, at the end of the day, it’s not going to make much difference overall,” Bozinoff said.

A range of factors, including exchange rate fluctuations, fiscal policy changes, shifting consumer preferences and offshore competition make measuring the economic value of a trade deal “a very hard thing to do,” said Robert Wolfe, professor emeritus at Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies in Kingston, Ont.

The maturity of both the U.S. market and the U.S.-Canada free-trade relationship also means any impact from a revamped deal is bound to be “incremental,” he added.

“When business looks at USMCA versus NAFTA, the real thing to consider is USMCA versus nothing,” Wolfe said. “Nothing would have real impacts on productivity and efficiency, because anything that disrupts North American supply chains can’t be good.”