The Future of North America

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONOn 30 November 2004, the newly re-elected President George W. Bush made his first post-election bilateral visit, arriving in Ottawa for what was also his first official visit as president to his country's largest trading partner. The president's timely visit followed a similar visit to Ottawa a month earlier by Mexican President Vicente Fox.Both visits came soon after the ioth anniversary of the coming into force of the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA), and at a time of heightened interest in the future direction of the emerging North American community. At the conclusion of President Bush's visit, a joint statement was issued that promised further progress on security and economic coordination in the following language:Today, Canada and the United States commit to deepening our cooperation in North America and in the world. We will both work bilaterally to address Canada-US priorities and continue our close cooperation with Mexico on issues of trilateral importance.This New Partnership will set an agenda designed to increase the security, prosperity, and the quality of life of our citizens by:reinforcing our joint efforts pursuant to our Smart Borders Accord to secure the safe movement of people and goods within North America, keeping borders open for business but closed to terrorism;expanding economic opportunity by making our businesses more competitive in the global market place; and,enhancing our mutual efforts to protect our environment, improve our ability to combat infectious disease, fight crime, and prevent trafficking in humans and illegal drugs.SecurityCanada and the United States will work to ensure the coherence and effectiveness of our North American security arrangements by:improving the coordination of intelligence-sharing, cross-border law enforcement and counter-terrorism;taking further steps to secure the Canada-U.S. border while improving the flow of legitimate traffic, through investments in border infrastructure and a land pre-clearance initiative; ...increasing the security of critical infrastructure, including transportation, energy, and communications networks;working towards renewing the NORAD agreement and investigating opportunities for greater cooperation on North American maritime surveillance and maritime defence.ProsperityOur objective is to expand economic opportunities and prosperity for all our peoples and the competitiveness of North American business by taking immediate steps to:pursue joint approaches to partnerships, consensus standards, and smarter regulations that result in greater efficiency and competitiveness, while enhancing the health and safety of our citizens;accelerate efforts to reduce rules of origin costs on goods traded between our countries.1Having signed the smart border accord with future-homeland security secretary Tom Ridge in December 2001, this language was music to my ears. It demonstrates a willingness adopted by the two heads of government to move forward, beyond the smart border accord on an agenda that Tom Ridge and I, together with our respective teams, had been preparing, but that was sidetracked by the conflict in Iraq in 2003.It is in this context that the Council on Foreign Relations has launched a task force on the future of North America, co-chaired by former Massachusetts governor William Weld, former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe, and me.COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS TRINATIONAL TASK FORCEEntitled Beyond NAFTA: Building a North American community, the task force concentrated on five policy areas where regional cooperation may be improved: 1) economic integration; 2) reducing the development gap; 3) harmonizing regulatory policy; 4) enhancing security; and 5) devising better institutions to manage conflicts that inevitably arise from integration and to exploit opportunities for collaboration. …