Are Enhanced Trade and Enhanced Security Mutually Exclusive? The Western Canada-U.S. Borderland in a Post-9/11 World

Abstract

In a post-September 11, 2001, North American trade environment, dramatic change appears to be the most visible constant in the Canada-United States borderland. The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989 (FTA) and the subsequent North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 (NAFTA) dramatically accelerated trade across the border, resulting in significant economic expansion and committing Canada and the United States to a policy of creating a more economically open border. In order to reap more of the potential economic benefits associated with free trade, the two countries mutually embarked on the Shared Border Accord in 1995. This agreement outlined a long-term investment plan to improve transportation and border infrastructure, and harmonized regulation procedures in order to create what was then ambitiously referred to as ''the most efficient border in the world. (1) However, the events of September 11, 2001, resulted in a number of significant and necessary policy shifts within this borderland. No longer was the focus on creating an efficient border; rather, security became the foremost priority. As a result, creating a secure border that is also efficient is now the primary objective. This is certainly a very different sort of border than anyone would have predicted when NAFTA was first signed, (2) presenting a new and difficult challenge: a challenge that threatens the very success of future North American free trade. Some analysis and researchers question the possibility of achieving both secure and efficient trade, because they view these two policies as inherently contradictory. Others have stated that free trade in North America under the new trade and security measures is not free at all that the new security measures act simply as non-tariff barriers. (1) Clearly these security measures are here to stay, so the challenge remains to make trade and travel across the Canada-U.S. border both secure and efficient. The purpose of this article is to explore and document the impacts on trade and personal travel that are a result of the post-9/11 security measures and policies. Several new programs designed to ensure both secure and efficient trade and travel have been introduced under the Smart Border Action Plan of 2001. This article will explore and evaluate how well these programs have succeeded in accomplishing this goal. In addition, we will identify certain difficulties that exist within these programs and policies, and make recommendations on how to improve or change the strategies that are already in place to ensure both secure and efficient trade and movement of people across the border in the future. Study Area From a continental standpoint--Atlantic to Pacific--this is a large task. This article will therefore focus on the situation along a representative border segment: the Pacific Slope of the Canada-U.S. border, a region originally defined by the Oregon Treaty of 1846 as extending from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific via the 49th parallel and the Strait of Juan tie Fuca. Geographically limiting this study is beneficial for several reasons. First and foremost, it makes the study more manageable, Second, the border and the amount and type of trade are notably different in the western border region than in the central or eastern border regions, and these differences have up to now not been fully appreciated. Third, much of the prior research that has been conducted on this subject has been limited to the central border region primarily Ontario (4)-with little focus on the Pacific Slope. The study area (Map I) consists of sixteen border ports ranging in size from the Pacific Highway [Blaine) WA-Douglas BG crossing, which is the fourth-busiest commercial port of entry along the entire border, to more remote rural crossings such as Nighthawk WA-Chopaka BC. This study area also contains the third-busiest passenger vehicle port along the Canada-U.S. border: the Peace Arch (Blaine) WA-Douglas BC port. …