Thomas d’Aquino Defends the NAFTA and Calls for Stepped-up Efforts to Enhance North American Competitiveness

June 2, 2008

Extolling the importance and the achievements of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Thomas d’Aquino, said in an Ottawa address today that the NAFTA has had a profoundly positive impact on North American trade and investment flows, and has been a powerful catalyst in enhancing the competitiveness of the continent.

“By reducing barriers to trade, spurring investment, accelerating cross-border business cooperation and efficiencies and advancing innovation and better-paying jobs, the NAFTA has delivered concrete results,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

Since the NAFTA went into effect in 1994, trilateral trade among the three partners has tripled, reaching about $1 trillion annually.  The NAFTA has fostered economic growth by encouraging competition in domestic markets and promoting investment from both domestic and foreign sources.

“But despite the hard evidence of the NAFTA’s successes, the pact is being subjected to vitriolic attacks, especially in the United States, by a bevy of protectionists, isolationists and political opportunists who are exploiting the current American economic malaise,” Mr. d’Aquino said.

The CCCE Chief Executive reminded his audience of visiting graduate business students from universities across the United States that business leaders have a responsibility to defend sound economic policies, including trade agreements such as the NAFTA, as they are cornerstones in the promotion of growth and jobs.  “In business circles in Canada, the United States and Mexico, too many of my business colleagues take the NAFTA for granted and do not challenge the growing list of myths that are linked to the agreement.”

“Defending the virtues of the NAFTA is only part of a much bigger challenge,” Mr. d’Aquino emphasized.  “Today, North America faces a competitive challenge that is huge and without precedent.  Emerging economies, some of them budding superpowers, are rapidly moving to the global front lines in trade, investment, technology, innovation and education.  This requires a new level of policy cooperation and coordination among governments, businesses, workforces, and educational institutions throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico.”

Mr. d’Aquino praised government-led efforts to foster cooperation such as the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).  “The SPP, like the NAFTA, has its share of detractors.  And yet this trilateral initiative has provided the framework for the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico, and their officials, to meet on a regular basis to discuss North American priorities. This is a form of positive and constructive engagement that deserves the strongest possible encouragement.”

The SPP has also motivated heads of government to press for closer cooperation among business leaders from the three partner countries.  Mr. d’Aquino pointed to the good work of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), created at the behest of the Prime Minister of Canada and the Presidents of Mexico and the United States.  “The NACC has now delivered two reports to leaders: one in Montebello in Canada last year and more recently in New Orleans.  The message in the reports is clear: if North America is to remain the leader among global competitors, we must further remove barriers to continental trade, investment and technological cooperation; we must achieve higher efficiencies and productivity among our enterprises; and we must have the most educated workforce in the world.”

The CCCE is a non-partisan organization composed of 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs from all major sectors and regions of Canada. Member chief executives lead companies that collectively administer $3.5 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $800 billion, and are responsible for the vast majority of Canada’s exports, investment, research and development, and training.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are:  Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada and Asia.