The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
What is the Security and Prosperity Partnership and is it a way of ÒsmugglingÓ a North American union into existence, as many believe? The SPP was initiated by Canada, the United States and Mexico in March 2005, with the intent to improve the tri-lateral trade and investment relationship. It was to have dealt with tariff and regulatory barriers, border administration and infrastructure, and security procedures. The SPP was an informal initiative, not a binding treaty. Unfortunately, the SPP has collapsed under a heap of conspiratorial rubbish. The SPP was about reducing delays at the border. The number of semi-trailer trucks crossing the border has soared, with bilateral trade now at $575 billion a year. Under the SPP, customs pre-clearance would have been relocated to primary inspection facilities a few kilometers away from the border on each side, thus separating passenger traffic from commercial and reducing delays. It was also about eliminating the redundancy, where advisable, of producing goods for the two markets. This redundancy affects content. Variations of the same deodorant and lip balm are produced because they are regulated as pharmaceuticals in one country but not the other. Cheese-flavoured popcorn sold in Canada must have no more than 49 per cent real cheese, while in the U.S. it must be no less than 53 per cent. Although some regulatory differences, such as pesticide levels allowed on fruits and vegetables, are worth debating, by harmonizing regulations on food, personal care products, clothing and in other areas, the SPP would have eliminated the need to make slightly different products or packaging for two markets. This would have lowered retail prices. The SPP was also about reducing or eliminating the tariffs that remain in place between Canada and the U.S. Finally, it was about streamlining customs clearance at the border. SPP programs expedited customs clearance for enrolled shippers and importers. The transaction costs on cross-border commerce would drop, to the benefit of consumers, and border agents could redirect their energy to illegal substances and people. These are all losses for us. While some of the SPP initiatives would have further liberalized trade, the majority would have simply recovered the ground lost since 9/11. The SPP would have done many things, but the SPP has twisted into a grand conspiracy to foist a political union on to a duped citizenry. As a result, the deal has no future.
