North American Competitiveness Council

The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) was announced by U.S. President George W. Bush in late March 2006 as a part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

Announcement
In his announcement Bush stated that the council "will comprise members of the private sector from each country and will provide us recommendations on North American competitiveness, including, among others, areas such as automotive and transportation, steel, manufacturing, and services. The Council will meet annually with security and prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an ongoing basis."

"We are convinced that regulatory cooperation advances the productivity and competitiveness of our nations and helps to protect our health, safety and environment. For instance, cooperation on food safety will help protect the public while at the same time facilitate the flow of goods. We affirm our commitment to strengthen regulatory cooperation in this and other key sectors and to have our central regulatory agencies complete a trilateral regulatory cooperation framework by 2007," the announcement stated.

The first meeting of NACC was held on June 15, 2006 and convened by Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce.

with "virtually no mention in the mainstream media, Jerome Corsi reported July 11, 2006, in Human Events Online.

The Council "will include 30 representatives: five from each government, and a like number of businesspersons from the three countries," according to Eduardo Sojo, the Public Policy Coordinator of the Office of the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. "The decision to create the Council is a result of the region’s private sector making requests to do so, since over the 12-year life of the NAFTA nothing similar has ever been established. The idea is to address competitiveness as a regional issue, not one of each nation," Ivette Saldaña reported April 17, 2006, for Mexidata.info.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * North American Union
 * Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)

External Articles

 * Council of Canadians, "The North American Competitiveness Council: A backgrounder", 2007.
 * "Meet NAFTA 2.0", Maclean's Magazine, September 13, 2006.

News Releases

 * News Release: "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Progress," White House, March 31, 2006.
 * Ivette Saldaña, "Canada, USA, Mexico To Form Competitiveness Council," Mexidata.info, April 17, 2006.
 * Media Release: "Pro-integration big business leaders given unprecedented power," Vive le Canada, June 14, 2006.
 * Council of Canadians, "NACC should not be writing Canadian policy, says Council of Canadians", Media Release, August 15, 2006.