Obama May Have Learned from Summit: Opinion

(Miami Herald – Andres Oppenheimer)

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada summit earlier this week was almost universally described in the media as a photo-op, with no substantive results. I don’t think so: It may have been a major step in helping to convince President Barack Obama about the need of greater North American integration. […]

Among the things that Obama heard from his counterparts in Guadalajara:

• Canada and Mexico together buy eight times more U.S. goods than China. While North American trade has tripled since NAFTA went into effect 15 years ago, the growth rate of regional trade has slowed since 2001, largely because of increased border restrictions.

• U.S., Canadian and Mexican exports are losing market share in the global economy. While the three North American trade partners together accounted for 19% of world exports in 2000, they made up only 12.7% in 2008. The U.S. share alone dropped from 12% to 8% over the same period.

• Asian and European countries have signed new free trade agreements and strengthened existing ones in recent years. In North America, meantime, no new roads or border crossings have been built over the past seven years, which is increasing transportation costs along the border and making North America less competitive globally.

• To become more competitive and get out of the economic crisis sooner, NAFTA members should build new border crossings, ease obstacles to trade and harmonize production and labeling rules. If U.S., Mexican and Canadian companies could produce goods with labels that are valid in all three NAFTA member countries, they reach 450 million people living in North America instead of being confined to their home markets.

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