The North American Idea

The “North American Community”

The United States’ earliest foreign policy statement, the Monroe Doctrine, put forth one basic principle: The security of the nation and its economic competitiveness derive from strong relationships with neighbors. With this in mind, the US, Canada and Mexico should enter into a special partnership. Each country within this North American Community would retain its borders and full sovereignty. The nations would work together and consider each other’s welfare as they plan international and domestic policies.

Entrenched interests and “sovereignty zealots” in all three countries will automatically oppose this idea. But such a community would, for example, reduce the cost of doing business among the US, Canada and Mexico by $64 billion annually. It would render unnecessary the $2.1 billion cost of a US-Mexican border wall and would lift Mexico out of the developing world and into the ranks of developed nations. That would ease immigration problems between Mexico and the US.

A North American Community would enable Canada and Mexico to advance their national interests through collaboration. By championing such a concept, the US could...