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This is NOT "theoretical". Get your FACTS straight. THINK FOR YOURSELVES !!!!! Don't REGURGITATE PABLUM FROM THE CORPORATE-OWNED MEDIA.
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[[Image:North America Map.svg|thumb|400px|Map showing the theoretical union located in the world map.]]
[[Image:North America Map.svg|thumb|400px|Map showing the theoretical union located in the world map.]]
The '''North American Union''' ('''NAU''') is a theoretical economic union, in some instances also a political union, of [[Canada]], [[Mexico]], and the [[United States]]. The concept is loosely based on the [[European Union]], occasionally including a common currency called the [[Amero]] or the North American [[Dollar]].
The '''North American Union''' ('''NAU''') is trade bloc fast becoming an economic union, on the way to becoming a full political union, of [[Canada]], [[Mexico]], and the [[United States]], modeled on the European Union, with intent to spread the same model to Central America via the FTAA and CAFTA in order to link up with South America, which merged on 23 May 2008 into the EU-style UNASUR. There are proposals for a common currency called the [[Amero]] or the North American [[Dollar]].


While the idea for some form of union has been discussed or proposed<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/NorthAmerica_TF_final.pdf Building a North American Community - Council on Foreign Relations] (PDF)</ref> in academic, business and political circles for many decades,<ref name="Building NAC">
While the idea for some form of union has been discussed or proposed<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/NorthAmerica_TF_final.pdf Building a North American Community - Council on Foreign Relations] (PDF)</ref> in academic, business and political circles for many decades,<ref name="Building NAC">

Revision as of 07:48, 15 October 2010

Map showing the theoretical union located in the world map.

The North American Union (NAU) is trade bloc fast becoming an economic union, on the way to becoming a full political union, of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, modeled on the European Union, with intent to spread the same model to Central America via the FTAA and CAFTA in order to link up with South America, which merged on 23 May 2008 into the EU-style UNASUR. There are proposals for a common currency called the Amero or the North American Dollar.

While the idea for some form of union has been discussed or proposed[1] in academic, business and political circles for many decades,[2] government officials from all three nations say there are no plans to create such a union and no agreement to do so has been signed.[3][4][5] The formation of a North American Union has been the subject of various conspiracy theories.[6][7][8][9]

History

Main articles: Independent Task Force on North America and Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

Since at least the mid-19th century, numerous concepts for a union between Canada, Mexico and the United States, some including Caribbean, Central American and South American countries, have been proposed, such as the North American Technate. In 2003, amid a push for greater integration and concerns in the fallout of the September 11 attacks about the impact of heightened security on trade relations, an effort organized by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations called the Independent Task Force on North America was initiated.[10] Several weeks before a meeting of North American leaders on March 23, 2005 the Task Force issued a press release and a statement from the Task Force's chairmen calling for deeper integration of NAFTA to form a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010.[11]

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was formed at the meeting of North American leaders. It was described by the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States as a dialogue to provide greater cooperation on security and economic issues.[12] In response to later concerns, a section was put up on the initiative's site clarifying the SPP was not a legal agreement, that the initiative "does not seek to rewrite or renegotiate NAFTA", and that the partnership itself "creates no NAFTA-plus legal status."[13] A number of academics and government officials at the time viewed the SPP as moving North America towards greater integration.[14]

The Task Force published a report in May 2005 which praised the SPP initiative and pushed for greater economic integration by 2010.[5][15] They repeated their call for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter."[16] In the report the Task Force said that a North American Community, which would be similar to the European Community which preceded the EU, should not rely on "grand schemes of confederation or union" and did not suggest a supranational government or a common currency. The Task Force’s recommendations included developing a North American customs union, common market, investment fund, energy strategy, set of regulatory standards, security perimeter, border pass, and advisory council, among other common goals.

Former Mexican president Vicente Fox is the only leader involved in the SPP process who has expressed a desire for a North American Union-style body. He noted the success countries like Ireland and Spain had in modernizing their economies and bringing higher standards of living for their citizens by joining what is now the European Union and expressed the hope that Mexico could have a similar experience in a trade body of comparable scope in North America.[17][18] Fox has, however, expressed frustration with the lack of progress on measures such as immigration reform, which proved to be contentious within the United States.[19]

Claims of North American Union implementation

In 2005, claims emerged from critics of North American integration that a "North American Union" was not only being planned, but was being implemented by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. These critics cited the formation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and claimed it was an attempt to dramatically alter the economic and political status quo between the countries outside of the scrutiny of the respective national legislatures, a critique heightened by the subsequent publication of the Independent Task Force on North America report which praised the SPP initiative and called for greater economic integration by 2010.[5][15]

While a broad spectrum of observers criticize the secrecy of the SPP and its dominance by business groups,[20] the specific claim that its true aim was to expand NAFTA into a North American Union analogous to the European Union (EU), with open borders and a common currency among other features, was being made by the fall of 2006, when conservative commentators Phyllis Schlafly, Jerome Corsi and Howard Phillips started a website dedicated to quashing what they perceived as the coming North American "Socialist mega-state."[9]

The belief that a North American Union was being planned and implemented in secret became widespread, so much so that the NAU was a topic of debate during the 2008 American presidential campaigns and the subject of various U.S. Congressional resolutions[21][22] designed to thwart its implementation. Prominent critics such as CNN’s Lou Dobbs[23] and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul[24] denounced the concept, joined by left-wing groups in Canada,[25] Internet blogs, and widely viewed videos and films such as "Zeitgeist". Corsi’s 2007 book "The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada" also helped bring the NAU discussion into the mainstream. Others who dismiss these beliefs maintain they are the latest example of a long line of erroneous conspiracy theories which suggest that the United States’ sovereignty is being eroded by a secret cabal of foreign and domestic players.[5][9]

Some of these NAU skeptics, while expressing concern about the lack of transparency of the SPP, note that this is not evidence of a plot to create a North American Union:

The idea of a regional union that effaces U.S. sovereignty is light-years away from George W. Bush's foreign policy of unilateral action and disdain for international law and institutions.

— [26]

Some NAU critics claim the actual goals of the SPP were confirmed by the Task Force,[27] and by the Task Force’s co-chair American University professor Robert Pastor. [10] Critics often cite Pastor as being the “father”[28] of the NAU[9][29] and his 2001 book "Towards a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New" has been called a blueprint[30] for the plan, and includes a suggestion to adopt a common North American currency called the amero.[9][31][32] Professor Robert Pastor is a Vice Chair of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America who has suggested forming a North American Commission similar to the European Commission and other governing institutions for North America.[33]

Various positive comments about a North American Union concept and an eventual common currency for the Americas by Vicente Fox, in particular some made during a promotional tour for a book in 2007, have been cited by critics as evidence that the body is in fact being enacted or planned.[34]

Features of the NAU

States, Provinces, Territories, and Districts within North America.

Concepts of a North American Union share a number of common elements between them. NASCO and the SPP have both denied that there are any plans to establish a common currency, a "NAFTA Superhighway", or a North American Union in "Myths vs Facts" pages on their websites.[13][35]

Amero

Main article: North American currency union

The amero is the appellation given to what would be the North American Union's counterpart to the euro. It was first proposed in 1999 by Canadian economist Herbert G. Grubel.[9] A senior fellow of the Fraser Institute think-tank, he published a book entitled The Case for the Amero[31][32] in September 1999, the year that the euro became a virtual currency. Robert Pastor, vice-chairman of the Independent Task Force on North America, supported Grubel's conclusions in his 2001 book Toward a North American Community, stating that: "In the long term, the amero is in the best interests of all three countries."[36] Another Canadian think-tank, the conservative C.D. Howe Institute, advocates the creation of a shared currency between Canada and the United States.[37] Although then-Mexican President Vicente Fox had expressed support for the idea, when Grubel brought up the idea to American officials, they said they were not interested, citing lack of benefits for the U.S.[9]

The Director of International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, Benn Steil, has called monetary nationalism and globalization a dangerous combination. Furthermore, he's recommended that, in order to safely globalize, the world must "abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn."[38] Lending support for the end of national currencies, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Eric van Wincoop, coauthored a journal article that argued the economical prudence of a common currency between nations, "The use of different moneys across borders can form a barrier as there are costs in exchanging currencies in spot and forward markets and traders face uncertainty about currency movements that cannot always be hedged. A common currency also leads to greater transparency of price differentials."[39] Cross border trade costs are likened to that of a tariff roughly equivalent to 170%. Forty-four percent of that "tariff" is attributed to "border related trade barriers" which breaks down as follows, "a 8% policy barrier, a 7% language barrier, a 14% currency barrier (from the use of different currencies), a 6% information cost barrier, and a 3% security barrier."[40]

On August 31, 2007, Internet broadcaster and conspiracy theorists Hal Turner and Ace Sabau claimed to have arranged for a United States government minted amero coin to be smuggled out of the U.S. Treasury Department by an employee of that organization. Snopes has assessed both Turner's story and the existence of the amero as "false."[41]

NAFTA superhighway

Main article: NAFTA superhighway
Interstate 29 and Interstate 35.

The Trans-Texas Corridor was first proposed by Texas Governor Rick Perry in 2002. It consists of a 1,200 foot (366 m) wide highway that also carries utilities such as electricity, petroleum, and water, as well as railway track and fiber-optic cables.[8] In July 2007, U.S. Representative and candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election Duncan Hunter successfully offered an amendment to H.R. 3074, the Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, 2008, prohibiting the use of federal funds for U.S. Department of Transportation participation in the activities of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). Hunter stated that:

Unfortunately, very little is known about the NAFTA Super Highway. This amendment will provide Congress the opportunity to exercise oversight of the highway, which remains a subject of question and uncertainty, and ensure that our safety and security will not be compromised in order to promote the business interests of our neighbors.

— [42]

Fellow Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul brought the issue to mainstream prominence during the December 2007 CNN-YouTube GOP debate, where he rejected the concept and also called it "the NAFTA Superhighway" and, like Hunter, framed it within "the ultimate goal" of creating a North American Union.[8]

The Ministry of Transportation for the province of Alberta displays a diagram on their website that labels I-29 and I-35 as "NAFTA Trade Corridors".[43]

Official statements

In 2001, President of Mexico Vicente Fox said in an interview for Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy that in the long term he sought with the United States a "convergence of our two economies, convergence on the basic and fundamental variables of the economy, convergence on rates of interest, convergence on income of people, convergence on salaries." He suggested this might take as long as 20 years to be realized, but the ultimate "convergence" he saw between the United States and Mexico would allow them to "erase that border, open up that border for [the] free flow of products, merchandises, [and] capital as well as people".[44] After leaving office, he continued to support the concept, while expressing his disappointment with the changed American political situation which made it seem more difficult to come to fruition.[45] In an online discussion of his book Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith, and Dreams of A Mexican President Fox cited the process of European integration and asked a questioner, "Why can't we be not only partners in the long term, but a North American Union?"[46]

In September 2006, U.S. Representative Virgil Goode proposed with six co-sponsors non-binding House Concurrent Resolution 487, which specifically outlined opposition to a North American Union or a NAFTA Superhighway as a threat to U.S. sovereignty. The bill never left committee.[47] The same resolution was reintroduced by Goode in January 2007 for the 110th Congress as House Concurrent Resolution 40, this time with forty-three cosponsors,[48] including 2008 Republican presidential candidates Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, who have all expressed opposition to a North American Union during their campaigns.[49][50][51]

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez stated in 2007: "There is no secret plan to create a North American union, or a common currency, or to intrude on the sovereignty of any of the partner nations".[52][53]

Regarding the NAFTA superhighway, officials from the Federal Highway Administration have denied such a scheme.[6] Also, the NASCO denies a new proposal for a "NAFTA superhighway" saying, "it exists today as I-35."[35]

In an August 2007 press conference in Montebello, Quebec, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that he didn't believe that the NAU was a "generally expressed concern", while U.S. President George W. Bush called concerns of a North American Union "political scare tactics" and described as "comical" the "difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about."[54]

Literature

Some form of North American Union is a common trope in science fiction literature. Examples include:

  • In the space opera the Lensman series by E.E. Smith, in Volume Two of the series, the 1950 book First Lensman, one of the heroes, Roderick Kinnison (a member of the Galactic Patrol), wins election as President of North America on the "Cosmocratic Party" ticket against the corrupt Witherspoon, who ran on the "Nationalist Party" ticket. North America still uses the electoral college system. The President of North America has a five year term. North America is a republic composed of the former nations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Its constituent states are the former provinces of Canada, states of the United States, and states of Mexico. (This would make a total of 91 states, assuming the Canadian territories had not yet become states by that time.) The novel takes place several hundred years in the future after Earth has recovered from the late 20th century World War III and has developed interstellar travel using the inertialess drive.[55][56]
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace takes place in the near future with a common North American currency, and a strong US-led North American confederation.
  • In Alexis A. Gilliland's Rosinante Trilogy (1981–82), a North American Union of Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Cuba forms in 2004 following a limited nuclear war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
  • Montezuma Strip and The Mocking Program, both by Alan Dean Foster, take place along the U.S.-Mexican border in a North American Union. The Union police are called Federales.

Television

Video Games

  • In the Mass Effect universe Canada, the U.S., and Mexico merge to become the United North American States. The merger occurs sometime in the 2090s and results in both the destruction of the Statue of Liberty (in protest of the merger) and the Second American Civil War.

See also

References

  1. ^ Building a North American Community - Council on Foreign Relations (PDF)
  2. ^ Pastor, Robert A.; Hills, Carla A.; Jones, James R.; Manley, John P.; Niles, Thomas M.T.; Cunningham, Nelson W.; Weld, William F.; Yzaguirre, Raul H. (2005). Building a North American Community (Task Force Report #53). Council on Foreign Relations Press. ISBN 0876093489. Retrieved 2009-02-07. {{cite book}}: Check |authorlink2= value (help); Check |authorlink3= value (help); Check |authorlink4= value (help); Check |authorlink5= value (help); Check |authorlink6= value (help); Check |authorlink7= value (help); Check |authorlink8= value (help); Check |authorlink= value (help); External link in |authorlink2=, |authorlink3=, |authorlink4=, |authorlink5=, |authorlink6=, |authorlink7=, |authorlink8=, and |authorlink= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "Paul believes in threat of North American superhighway". Los Angeles Times. 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  4. ^ http://www.spp.gov/myths_vs_facts.asp
  5. ^ a b c d Dine, Philip (2007-05-19). "Urban legend of "North American Union" feeds on fears". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  6. ^ a b Braun, Steven (2007-11-30). "Paul believes in threat of North American superhighway". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ "Diverted by jelly-beans". The Economist. 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  8. ^ a b c Kovach, Gretel (2007-12-10). "Highway to Hell?". Newsweek. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Bennett, Drake (2007-11-25). "The amero conspiracy". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  10. ^ "The Task Of Today's CCCE: Moving Multilateral Trade Forward". The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  11. ^ "Trinational Call for a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010" (Press release). Council on Foreign Relations. 2005-03-14. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  12. ^ Joint Statement by President Bush, President Fox, and Prime Minister Martin at www.whitehouse.gov
  13. ^ a b "SPP Myths vs Facts". Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
  14. ^ "The Current Debate Regarding the SPP: Security and the Integration of North America". Center for North American Studies. 2009-12-24. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
  15. ^ a b [1]
  16. ^ 83799$CH2A
  17. ^ [2]
  18. ^ "Book World: Vicente Fox's 'Revolution of Hope'". The Washington Post. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  19. ^ [3]
  20. ^ Behind Closed Doors: What they're not telling us about the Security and Prosperity Partnership
  21. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/hc40_ih.xml
  22. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc109/hc487_ih.xml
  23. ^ "North American Union?". CNN. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  24. ^ A North American United Nations? at www.house.gov
  25. ^ Call for a Referendum on the SPP at www.canadianactionparty.ca
  26. ^ Laura Carlsen (2008-03-03). "The North American Union Farce". Global Research. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  27. ^ [4] [5]
  28. ^ [6]
  29. ^ [7]
  30. ^ [8]
  31. ^ a b Herbert G. Grubel (1999). "The Case for the Amero: The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary Union" (PDF). The Fraser Institute. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  32. ^ a b Herbert G. Grubel (1999). "The Case for the Amero: The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary Union". The Fraser Institute. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  33. ^ Pastor, Robert. "North America's Second Decade". Foreign Affairs. January/February 2004. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  34. ^ [9]
  35. ^ a b "NASCO Congressional - Myths vs Facts December 2007" (PDF). North American SuperCorridor Coalition. Retrieved 2007-12-06. [dead link]
  36. ^ Pastor, Robert (2001). Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New. Washington, D.C.: Peterson Institute. p. 115. ISBN 0881323284. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  37. ^ "Canada Should Pursue North American Currency Union" (PDF). C. D. Howe Institute. June 22, 1999. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  38. ^ Steil, Benn (May/June 2007). "The End of National Currency". Foreign Affairs. Vol. 86, no. 3. Council on Foreign Relations. pp. 83–96. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2009-02-02. {{cite news}}: Check |author-link= value (help); Check date values in: |publication-date= (help); External link in |author-link= (help)
  39. ^ Anderson, James E.; Van Wincoop, Eric (September 8, 2001). "Borders, Trade and Welfare" (PDF). Brookings Trade Forum. Washington: Brookings Institution Press: 207–244. ISSN 1520-5479. Retrieved 2009-02-02. {{cite journal}}: Check |author-link= value (help); Check |author2-link= value (help); External link in |author-link= and |author2-link= (help)
  40. ^ Anderson, James E.; Van Wincoop, Eric (2004). "Trade Costs" (PDF). Journal of Economic Literature. 42 (3). Nashville: American Economic Association: 691–751. doi:10.1257/0022051042177649. Retrieved 2009-02-02. {{cite journal}}: Check |author-link= value (help); Check |author2-link= value (help); External link in |author-link= and |author2-link= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  41. ^ "Amero Uproar". Snopes.com. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  42. ^ Congressman Duncan Hunter - Proudly Serving the 52nd District of California : Press Release/Statement
  43. ^ Government of Alberta: NAFTA Trade Corridors & State Truck Standards Accessed 2008-07-16
  44. ^ "Commanding Heights: Vicente Fox". PBS. 2001-04-04. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  45. ^ Fox, Vicente (guest) Stewart, Jon (host). The Daily Show October 8, 2007. Comedy Central. {{cite AV media}}: External link in |title= (help)
  46. ^ "Book World: Vicente Fox's 'Revolution of Hope'". Washington Post. 2007-11-06. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  47. ^ "H. Con. Res. 487". Legislation of the 109th United States Congress. GovTrack.us. 2006-09-28. Retrieved 2007-12-27. Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.
  48. ^ "H. Con. Res. 40". Legislation of the 110th United States Congress. GovTrack.us. 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-12-27. Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.
  49. ^ The Official Site of Duncan Hunter for US President in 2008 | Core Principles
  50. ^ Ron Paul 2008 › Issues › American Independence and Sovereignty
  51. ^ http://teamtancredo.org/stands/
  52. ^ McKenna, Barrie (2007-06-11). "Security and prosperity?". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2007-12-06. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  53. ^ Remarks to U.S. and Canadian Chambers of Commerce. United States Department of Commerce. 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  54. ^ President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with Prime Minister Harper of Canada, and President Calderón of Mexico. White House.gov. 2007-08-21. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  55. ^ Ellik, Ron and Evans, Bill (Illustrations by Bjo Trimble) The Universes of E.E. Smith Chicago:1966 Advent Publishers Page 138
  56. ^ Smith, E.E. First Lensman Reading, Pennsylvania, USA:1950 -- Fantasy Press Chapter 13 "Candidate Kinnison" Pages 182-200 and Chapter 20 "The Election" Pages 292-302
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