A North American Community

Abstract

of January 1994. If one judges a free trade area by the size of its output and territory, North America became the largest in the world, larger than the European Union. Yet that fact escaped all but a few analysts. It is widely known that the United States has the world’s largest economy, but North America also includes the eighth (Canada) and ninth (Mexico) largest economies (The Economist, 2003: 24). Within a decade, trade and investment among the three countries had nearly tripled, and North America had achieved a level of integration (defined as intra-regional trade as a percent of world trade) that approached Europe’s (58 percent as compared to 61 percent). In other words, North America is no longer just a geographical expression. It has become a formidable, integrated region, comparable in some respects to the European Union. And yet few in North America or outside view the region as anything more than three sovereign countries: a global superpower and two uncomfortable neighbors. It is not hard to explain this perception. The United States accounts for 85 percent of the region’s gross output and a much higher percentage of the region’s military power and reach. The other two countries of North America are very dependent on the United States economically, and partly because of that, have used their foreign policies to define their distance and separateness from it. NAFTA, which can be considered a kind of draft constitution for an emerging region, dismantled most trade and investment barriers and accelerated social and economic integration. That compelling fact and the security implications that flow from September 11 brought the leaders of the three North American countries together for a summit in