Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: An Overview and Selected Issues
Released: 2010-01-22T00:00:00

Background

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was a trilateral initiative, launched in March 2005, that was intended to increase cooperation and information sharing in an effort to increase and enhance prosperity in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The SPP was a government initiative that was endorsed by the leaders of the three countries from 2005 to 2008, but it is was not a signed agreement or treaty and, therefore, contained no legally binding commitments or obligations. It could, at best, be characterized as an endeavor by the three countries to facilitate communication and cooperation across several key policy areas of mutual interest. Although the SPP built upon the existing trade and economic relationship of the three countries, it was not a trade agreement and distinct from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Some key issues for Congress regarding the SPP concerned possible implications related to private sector priorities, national sovereignty, transportation corridors, cargo security, and border security.

The SPP was initiated on March 23, 2005 when the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States met in Waco, Texas, to discuss a number of issues including trade and economic collaboration. A major outcome of the summit was the announcement of the SPP. The primary purpose of the initiative was to improve cooperative efforts among the three countries in areas related to economic prosperity and the protection of the environment, the food supply, and public health. The initial plan included the establishment of a number of security and prosperity working groups in each of the two categories. The security working groups were chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the prosperity working groups were chaired by the Secretary of Commerce.

It is unclear what course of action will be taken regarding the former SPP initiatives under President Barack Obama's Administration. In August 2009, President Obama met with Mexican President Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Harper at the North American Leaders' Summit in Guadalajara, Mexico. The leaders discussed key issues that affect the three countries and agreed to continue cooperation in these areas, but there was no mention of continuing the SPP. The U.S. government website on the SPP states that it has been archived and will not be updated.

Working Group Proposals and Priorities

In 2005 and 2006, the SPP working groups provided annual reports to the three leaders of North America on the work and key accomplishments of the working groups. The 2005 report provided the initial proposals on how to accomplish the goals of the SPP. The priorities focused on increasing collaborative efforts to improve certain sectors of the economy; developing higher standards of safety and health; and addressing environmental concerns. The proposals related to trade and commerce included a signed Framework of Common Principles for Electronic Commerce; liberalization of Rules of Origin; a Memorandum of Understanding between Canada and the United States to exchange information and cooperate on activities relating to consumer product safety and health; harmonization of the use of care symbols on textiles and apparel labeling; and a document clarifying each country's domestic procedures for temporary work entry of professionals under NAFTA.

In August 2007, at the North American Leaders' Summit in Montebello, Canada, the leaders of the three countries issued a joint statement outlining the progress that the SPP working groups had made and the priorities for the coming year. Accomplishments of the working groups included (1) a North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza, (2) a Regulatory Cooperation Framework, (3) an Intellectual Property Action Strategy, and (4) a Trilateral Agreement for Cooperation in Energy Science and Technology. In addition, the North American leaders agreed upon the following five priority areas for the SPP working groups: (1) Enhancement of the Global Competitiveness of North America, (2) Safe Food and Products, (3) Sustainable Energy and the Environment, (4) Smart and Secure Borders, and (5) Emergency Management and Preparedness.

In February 2008, ministers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico met in Baja California, Mexico to review the progress of the working groups during the previous year and to discuss cooperative approaches for meeting challenges and opportunities in the five SPP priority areas. The ministers provided progress reports to former President Bush, President Calderón of Mexico, and Prime Minister Harper of Canada. At the North American Leaders Summit in April 2008, the three leaders of North America directed their ministers to renew and focus the work of the SPP in the following areas:

Competitiveness: Work to make regulations more compatible among the three countries to support integrated supply chains and reduce the cost of goods traded within North America, particularly within the auto industry. Strengthen intellectual property rights protection by advancing the Intellectual Property Action Strategy. Smarter and More Secure Borders: Coordinate long-term infrastructure plans and take steps to reduce bottlenecks and congestion at major border crossings. Increase cooperation on the development and application of technology to make borders smarter and more secure so as to avoid unnecessary inspections and to strengthen trusted traveler and shipper programs. Increase cooperation to install advanced screening equipment at ports of entry to deter and detect smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials. Energy Security and Environmental Protection: Strengthen energy security and protect the environment by developing a framework for harmonization of energy efficiency standards and sharing technical information to improve the North American energy market. Exchange information and explore opportunities to further reduce barriers to expanding clean energy technologies. Work to improve North America's air quality and improve the safety of chemicals in the marketplace. Food and Product Safety: Increase cooperation and information sharing on the safety of food and products. Strengthen regulatory and inspection systems to protect consumers. Work to make food and product safety standards more compatible. Emergency Response: Work on updating existing bilateral agreements to enable government authorities to help each other quickly and efficiently during times of crisis and great need, including responding to threats posed by cyber or chemical-biological attacks.

Prosperity Components of the SPP

The prosperity components of the SPP were aimed at increasing cooperation and sharing of information to improve productivity, reduce the costs of trade, and enhance the quality of life. In the initial phase of the SPP, the three countries agreed to establish a series of working groups to "consult with stakeholders; set specific, measurable, and achievable goals and implementation dates; and identify concrete steps the governments can take to achieve these goals." The prosperity working groups were established to cover a broad range of issue areas. In August 2007, the North American leaders announced a need for enhancing North American competitiveness through compatible regulations and standards that would help the three countries protect health, safety, and the environment, as well as to facilitate trade in goods and services across their borders. They also stated the importance of making more progress on regulatory cooperation and the protection of intellectual property. In addition, they highlighted the need for increased cooperation on import-safety issues, energy and science technology, and energy efficiency standards in key products and standby power consumption.

The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC)

At the March 2006 summit of the North American leaders, the three leaders agreed that greater private sector engagement would help the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico in their efforts to enhance North American competitiveness through the SPP. As a result, the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) was created as an official working group under the SPP. The NACC consists of private sector representatives from North American corporations and provides contributions and advice related to the prosperity component of the SPP. In 2008, the North American ministers responsible for the SPP met with the NACC to discuss long-term challenges facing the three countries and how best to increase security and prosperity in North America to help make the region a desirable place to live, work, and do business. In its 2008 report to leaders, the NACC identified priorities and other key issues to help further the prosperity components of the SPP.

NACC Recommendations

The NACC report listed the following priorities to enhance North American competitiveness:

Facilitating entry for cargo and reducing border congestion along the borders with Canada and Mexico; Establishing competitive supply chains across North America by developing efficient transportation networks, especially along the northern and southern borders of the United States; Working towards comprehensive integration of the North American automotive industry through more efficient border inspections and greater regulatory cooperation by aligning vehicle safety standards and regulations among the three countries; Implementing a trilateral Intellectual Property Action Strategy for more rigorous protection of intellectual property rights; Enhancing secure alternatives to a passport before the June 2009 date for full implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative; Strengthening trilateral communication and cooperation to prevent the entry of unsafe food and products into North America and working to make regulatory and inspection regimes for food and product safety more compatible; Encouraging development of sustainable energy technologies and protection of the environment through private sector cooperation; Ensuring emergency management planning through increased cooperation on emergency protocols, particularly those related to border traffic and prioritization of cross-border shipments during emergencies; and Enhancing cooperation in financial regulation in order to provide more efficient access to capital, to improve the availability and affordability of insurance coverage for cross-border carriers, and to find new ways for cross-border collaboration on investment.

Security Components of the SPP

The goal of the security components of the SPP was to coordinate the security efforts undertaken by each of the three participating nations to better protect citizens from terrorist threats and transnational crime while promoting the safe and efficient movement of legitimate people and goods. Working groups were established to address the security aspects of the SPP and are grouped by three broad themes: (1) external threats to North America, (2) streamlined and secured shared borders, and (3) prevention and response within North America. Ten individual security working groups have been established to address specific portions of the security agenda and include traveler security; cargo security; border facilitation; aviation security; maritime security; law enforcement; intelligence cooperation; bio-protection; protection, preparedness, and response; and science and technology. In the August 2007 joint statement, the three leaders highlighted several next steps to better secure North America, including, for example, reducing duplicate screening for baggage and cargo, pursuing innovative and interoperable law enforcement models to promote seamless operation at the border, improving and expanding existing law enforcement radio communications, identifying ways to further enhance the benefits of trusted traveler programs, and alleviating bottlenecks as the U.S.-Mexico border. The Ministerial Joint Statement issued in February of 2008, in advance of the leaders' meeting in New Orleans in April of 2008, stated that the leaders had reviewed the progress that had been achieved since the meeting in Montebello, and directed officials to "strengthen cooperation protocols and create new mechanisms to secure our common borders while facilitating legitimate travel and trade in the North American region."

The SPP and Member Economies

The SPP was not a trade agreement, nor a form of economic integration, and went only as far as leading to some measure of regulatory harmonization among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The SPP working groups did not contemplate further market integration in North America. Such a move would have required a government approval process within each of the three countries. In the United States, any agreement or efforts on the part of the SPP regarding further market integration would have required the approval of the U.S. Congress.

Some proponents of economic integration in North America maintain that the emergence of China and India in the global marketplace may be putting North America at a competitive disadvantage with other countries and that NAFTA should go beyond a free trade agreement. These proponents have written policy papers proposing that the U.S. government consider the possibility of forming a "NAFTA-Plus," a "North American Union," or even a common currency called the "Amero." Critics of this level of economic integration believe that NAFTA has already gone too far and that it has harmed the U.S. economy and undermined democratic control of domestic policy-making. Others suggested that the SPP may be more than an initiative to increase cooperation and that it could lead to the creation of a common market or economic union in North America. However, as previously noted, if the United States were to potentially consider the formation of a customs union or common market with its North American neighbors, it would require approval by the U.S. Congress.

A free trade agreement (FTA), such as NAFTA, is the most common form of regional economic integration. Generally, in an FTA, member countries agree to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers on trade and investment within the specified free trade area. Under an FTA, each country maintains its own trade policies, including tariffs on trade outside the region.

In addition to FTAs, other forms of economic integration are customs unions, common markets, and economic unions. Such agreements sometimes imply a greater loss of autonomy over the parties' commercial policies and require longer and more complex negotiations and implementation periods than FTAs. Customs unions are agreements in which members conduct free trade among themselves and maintain a common trade policy towards non-members. These agreements require the establishment of a common external tariff and harmonization of external trade policies. Common markets are those in which member countries go beyond a customs union by eliminating barriers to labor and capital flows across national borders within the market. The European Union is the most prominent example of a common market. In economic unions, member countries merge their economies even further than common markets by establishing a common currency, and therefore a unified monetary policy, along with other common economic institutions. The 12 members of the European Union that have adopted the euro as a common currency is the most significant example of a group of countries that has moved forward from a customs union to an economic union.

Transportation Corridors

One of the stated goals of the SPP was to improve the safety, security, and efficiency of the flow goods between the three countries. The majority of trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico is transported by land modes (truck, rail, and pipeline). U.S. freight trade with Canada and Mexico more than doubled in value between 1996 and 2007, growing from $419 billion in 1996 to $909 billion in 2007 . Trucks were the dominant mode for transporting goods between the United States and its NAFTA partners, accounting for 61% ($555 billion) of the value of total trade in 2007. This growth in the volume of freight placed an increasing burden on transportation systems, and particularly the road network.

Data however, was showing a decline in the volume of surface transportation trade between the United States and its NAFTA partners in 2008. For example, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that the value of trade using surface transportation between the United States and Canada for November 2008 was $37.8 billion, which represented a 16.4% decline compared to November of 2007. Similarly, BTS reported that U.S.-Mexico surface transportation trade for November 2008 totaled $22.9 billion, representing a decline of 9% compared to November 2007. These measures combined indicated that surface transportation trade for November 2008 between the United States and its NAFTA partners declined 13.8% as compared to November 2007.

Some observers contended that the SPP would ultimately lead to a so-called "NAFTA Superhighway" that would link the United States, Canada, and Mexico with a 'super-corridor'. The federal government however, stated that there were no plans to build a "NAFTA Superhighway," and that no super-corridor initiative of any sort was a part of the SPP. Further, no legal authority existed and no funds were appropriated to construct such a superhighway, nor were there any plans to seek such authority or funding.

States regularly undertake highway construction and improvement projects, independently of any initiatives under the former SPP. As noted above, the nation's freight transportation system is being exposed to an increasing burden from cross-border trade. States and localities undertake highway projects to address the impacts of this increasing burden on the roadways, particularly in border states. Planning for these projects along the border often requires consultation with the neighboring NAFTA partners, as expansions of port access roads, additional lanes and bigger plazas, impact the flow of traffic through the port, and therefore the flow of traffic entering the neighboring country. Among other efforts, the SPP Transportation Working Group was involved in analyzing border trade and traffic flows to support border infrastructure planning and prioritization.

Cargo Security and Border Facilitation

One of the central tensions in border management policy concerns how to design policies that facilitate the efficient entry of legitimate cargo while simultaneously ensuring that a sufficient level of security and scrutiny is applied to deny the entry of illegitimate cargo. Two of the ten SPP security working groups were devoted to cargo security and border facilitation. Since 9/11, the U.S. government had undertaken a number of initiatives aimed at improving cargo security and the facilitation of legitimate or low-risk cargo. Programs such as the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program (a joint U.S.-Canada, and U.S.-Mexico program), and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program (a public-private supply chain security initiative) are two well-known examples of post-9/11 initiatives that had sought to provide increased security while also providing expedited customs-clearance to pre-vetted shipments.

One initiative that was considered under the SPP was known as pre-clearance, which has long been in place at airports, but which gas been difficult to implement at the land border. A related concept is known as reverse inspections which is essentially pre-clearance conducted on both sides of the border. Under the reverse inspection scenario, U.S. customs officials would be stationed in Canada to process and clear cargo en-route to the U.S. before the cargo reaches the U.S. border. Similarly, Canadian customs officials would be stationed in the U.S. to process cargo en-route to Canada from the United States. Proponents of reverse inspections maintain that this process offered increased security because it would allow U.S. customs officers the opportunity to intercept high-risk cargo before the truck reached the bridge or the booth on the U.S. side of the border. Critics of the reverse inspection proposal cited sovereignty issues as a primary obstacle, but there were a host of other issues including the different authorities held by each country's customs agencies, and a variety of different legal issues.

Progress was made, under the U.S.-Canada Shared Border Accord and the SPP, towards developing a pilot program to test reverse inspections at two different land border ports along the U.S.-Canada border. The pilots had not gone forward as of May 2009 , and it is unclear whether or not the obstacles to reverse inspections can be overcome in the future.