U.S., Canada & Mexico Officials Reaffirm Antitrust Ties

The heads of the antitrust agencies of the United States, Canada, and Mexico – Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Acting Assistant Attorney General Sharis A. Pozen of the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Canadian Commissioner of Competition Melanie Aitken, and President Eduardo Perez Motta of the Mexican Federal Competition Commission – met today to reaffirm their commitment to effective enforcement cooperation. Among the enforcement and policy issues discussions were updates on merger policy and enforcement in the three jurisdictions and the sharing of recent experience in areas of mutual enforcement interest.

"Today's talks confirmed, yet again, the breadth of the common values and approaches that we share with our Canadian and Mexican colleagues, and the benefits of our agencies' cooperation to consumers and businesses in the region and globally," Leibowitz said.

The three nations are parties to a series of bilateral antitrust cooperation agreements that commit their antitrust agencies to cooperate and coordinate in order to make their antitrust policies and enforcement as consistent and effective as possible. They also are parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which includes a competition chapter that provides for cooperation among them in antitrust investigations.

Chairman Leibowitz also gave the keynote address at a conference titled, Mexico's First National Week of Pro-Consumer Policies - Building Shared Responsibility and Confidence, and is meeting with Federal Attorney Bernardo Altamirano of the Mexican Federal Attorney's Office of the Consumer.

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