North American Competitiveness Council

The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) was convened for the first time June 15, 2006, 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 is an "apparently extra-constitutional advisory group organized by the Department of Commerce (DOC) under the auspices" of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), Corsi wrote.

According to a March 31, 2006, press release found on the White House website, "under the title 'Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Progress,' announced the formation of the NACC. The press release noted that the NACC would meet annually 'with security and prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an ongoing basis'," Corsi wrote.

"The 'SPP Ministers' were not identified," Corsi wrote, adding "Moreover, the term 'Ministers' was an unusual reference to the U.S. government, especially when the founding fathers had taken such pains to rid the U.S. of all terminology that could be reminiscent of monarchical systems such as the British royalty against whom the Revolutionary War was aimed. Evidently, the reference was to Gutierrez, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the three cabinet officers to whom the extensive SPP working groups organized in DOC are now reporting, as well as their cabinet level counterparts in Mexico and Canada." [1]

"The White House press release references no U.S. law or treaty under which the NACC was organized," Corsi wrote. "Yet the press release notes that:

"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 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." [2]

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 Resources

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

• PDF from Council of Canadians Integrate This!: The North American Competitiveness Council: A backgrounder 2007

External Links

• "Meet NAFTA 2.0," an article on the NACC from 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.
• Media Release: NACC should not be writing Canadian policy, says Council of Canadians, August 15, 2006

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