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The Security and Prosperity (SPP) launched in 2005
by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is an overarching
agreement to conduct negotiations in a wide variety of areas
related to product standards, government regulations on trade,
health and food safety, energy, and the environment as well as a
wide variety of security measures related to border crossings.
The objective is to achieve gradually more regulatory convergence
and product standards compatibility as well as more streamlined
border and security measures so that the costs of trade and
border crossings can be lowered, while standards and regulations
become more continent-wide. SPP negotiations are meant to lead to
specific agreements on a sector-by-sector basis and mainly affect
changes in the administrative or executive branches of
government. Thus far, SPP negotiations and agreements have
modestly advanced Canada's national interest by removing or
reducing non-tariff barriers to trade. Closer cooperation and
coordination among the governments has also helped make the
implementation of post-9/11 security provisions more
efficient.
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