Scanning the News about North American Integration — November 2006

Scanning the News about North American Integration

Whereas, according to the Department of Commerce, United States trade deficits with Mexico and Canada have significantly widened since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);

Whereas the economic and physical security of the United States is impaired by the potential loss of control of its borders attendant to the full operation of NAFTA;

Whereas a NAFTA Superhighway System from the west coast of Mexico through the United States and into Canada has been suggested as part of a North American Union;

Whereas it would be particularly difficult for Americans to collect insurance from Mexican companies which employ Mexican drivers involved in accidents in the United States, which would increase the insurance rates for American drivers;

Whereas future unrestricted foreign trucking into the United States can pose a safety hazard due to inadequate maintenance and inspection, and can act collaterally as a conduit for the entry into the United States of illegal drugs, illegal human smuggling, and terrorist activities; and

Whereas a NAFTA Superhighway System would be funded by foreign consortiums and controlled by foreign management, which threatens the sovereignty of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That —

1. the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System;
2. the United States should not enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada; and
3. the President should indicate strong opposition to these or any other proposals that threaten the sovereignty of the United States.

• “The SPP ‘working groups’ organized within the U.S. Department of Transportation are signing trilateral memoranda of understanding and other agreements with Mexico and Canada designed to accomplish the open borders goal incrementally, below the radar of mainstream media attention, thereby avoiding public scrutiny. Congress is largely unaware that SPP exists . . . SPP.gov conveys the impression that the Waco declaration [agreed to by President Bush, Canada and Mexico in March 2005] created de facto a new NAFTA-plus legal status between the three countries that is designated the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP for short. Evidently using this quasi-press release as legal justification, the U.S. Department of Commerce has proceeded to organize extensive ‘working groups,’ drawing freely from the executive branch . . .” Reported by Jerome Corsi, Human Events, 6-28-06.
• “In every area of activity, the SPP agenda stresses free and open movement of people, trade, and capital within the North American Union. Once the SPP agenda is implemented with appropriate departmental regulations, there will be no area of immigration policy, trade rules, environmental regulations, capital flows, public health, plus dozens of other key policy areas that the U.S. government will be able to decide alone, or without first consulting with some appropriate North American Union regulatory body. At best, our border with Mexico will become a speed bump, largely erased, with little remaining to restrict the essentially free movement of people, trade, and capital.” Reported by Jerome Corsi, Human Events, 5-30-06.
• “The SPP report to the heads of state of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, released June 27, 2005, lists some 20 different working groups spanning a wide variety of issues ranging from e-commerce, to aviation policy, to borders and immigration, involving the activity of multiple U.S. government agencies. The working groups have produced a number of memorandums of understanding and trilateral declarations of agreement. . . .” Reported by Jerome Corsi, WorldNetDaily, 6-13-06.
• “According to the U.S. government website dedicated to the project, the SPP is neither a treaty nor a formal agreement. Rather , it is a ‘dialogue’ launched by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco, Texas in March, 2005. What is a ‘dialogue’? We don’t know. What we do know, however, is that Congressional oversight of what might be one of the most significant developments in recent history is non-existent. Congress has had no role at all in a ‘dialogue’ that many see as a plan for a North American union. According to the SPP website, this ‘dialogue’ will create new supra-national organizations to ‘coordinate’ border security, health policy, economic and trade policy, and energy policy between the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. As such, it is but an extension of NAFTA- and CAFTA-like agreements that have far less to do with the free movement of goods and services than they do with government coordination and management of international trade. . . .” Posted by Rep. Ron Paul, 8-30-06.
• “With virtually no mention in the mainstream media, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez convened on June 15 the first meeting of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an apparently extra-constitutional advisory group organized by the Department of Commerce under the auspices of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). . . . The press release noted that the NACC would meet annually ‘with security and prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an ongoing basis.’ . . . The White House press releases reference no U.S. law or treaty under which the NACC was organized.” Reported by Jerome R. Corsi, Human Events, 7-11-06.
• “Judicial Watch uncovered documents that shed new light on the ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,’ announced by President Bush, former Mexico President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 23, 2005. The expressed goal of the partnership is to create ‘a safer, more prosperous North America’ through enhanced cooperation. . . . Critics, however, charge that it is a veiled attempt to erase the borders between the countries, creating a ‘North American Union’ much like the European Union, with a common currency. . . . Our investigations team is still in the process of analyzing the documents released to Judicial Watch in response to its Freedom of Information Act request. But what we have uncovered so far is intriguing. The partnership’s ‘working groups’ include officials from 10 federal agencies, including Commerce, State and Homeland Security. These officials, in cooperation with representatives from Mexico and Canada, are addressing a wide variety of topics behind closed-doors, including the movement of goods between countries, traveler security, energy, environment and health.” Reported by Tom Fitton, Human Events, 10-3-06.
• “Away from the spotlight, from Sept. 12 to 14, in Banff Springs [Canada], Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor met with U.S. and Mexican government officials and business leaders to discuss North American integration at the second North American Forum. . . . The focus of the event . . . included topics such as ‘A North American Energy Strategy,’ ‘Demographic and Social Dimensions of North American Integration’ and ‘Opportunities for Security Co-operation’ – all topics where the public interest is at odds with that of big business elites . . . The public has been kept in the dark while the business elite has played a leading role in designing the blueprint for this more integrated North America.” Reported by the Toronto Star, 9-20-06.
• “Robert Pastor is the person most likely to be proclaimed the father of the North American Union, a designation consistent with his decades-long history of viewing U.S. national interests through the lens of an extreme leftist almost anti-American political philosophy. . . . From February 1975 to January 1977, Dr. Pastor was executive director of the Linowitz Commission on U.S./Latin American Relations. The Linowitz Commission supported President Carter’s decision to negotiate a treaty to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama. . . . Pastor served as Carter’s ‘point man’ in getting the Senate to narrowly vote for the Carter-Torrijos Treaty on April 18, 1978, despite staunch objections from conservative politicians including Ronald Reagan. In December 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Pastor to be U.S. ambassador to Panama. The nomination failed, however, . . . after then-Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) swore to prevent a Senate vote on Pastor’s nomination. Helms, who had vehemently opposed the turnover of the Panama Canal, placed much of the blame squarely on Pastor. . . . In 2004, Dr. Pastor declared his support for the presidential campaign of John Kerry. Dr. Pastor’s 19-page curriculum vitae on the website of American University where he is currently a faculty member documents that Dr. Pastor has served as an adviser to every Democratic Party presidential candidate for three decades, since he first supported Jimmy Carter in 1976. Dr. Pastor was the co-chair of the May 2005 CFR report, ‘Building a North American Community.’ . . .” Reported by Jerome Corsi, Human Events, 7-25-06.
• Government documents released by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the Bush administration is running a ‘shadow government’ with Mexico and Canada in which the U.S. is crafting a broad range of policy in conjunction with its neighbors to the north and south. . . . The documents clearly reveal the SPP, working within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is far advanced in putting together a new regional infrastructure, creating a ‘shadow’ trilateral bureaucracy with Mexico and Canada that is aggressively rewriting a wide range of U.S. administrative law, all without congressional oversight or public disclosure.” Posted by WorldNetDaily, 9-26-06.
• “In June 2005, our three governments released detailed work-plans identifying key initiatives that form an ambitious agenda of collaboration. Since June, we have worked to implement these initiatives. . . . We affirm our commitment to strengthen regulatory cooperation in this and other key sectors and to have our central regulatory agencies complete a trilateral regulatory cooperation framework by 2007. . . . Our vision is to have a border strategy that results in the fast, efficient and secure movement of low-risk trade and travelers to and within North America. . . . In implementing this strategy, we will encourage innovative risk-based approaches to improving security and facilitating trade and travel. . . . The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America represents a broad and ambitious agenda.” Posted 3-31-06 by the White House.
• “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America Key Accomplishments since June 2005: . . . To support increased trade and expedite secure processing of cross-border trade and travel between Mexico and the United States, six FAST/Express lanes are operating at the US-Mexico border, a new lane in Nogales will open soon, and we are working on a project for a lane in Matamoros. Exclusive lines and schedules will be implemented at nine crossings.” Posted 3-31-06 by the White House.
• “On March 23, 2005, the United States, Canada and Mexico entered into an unprecedented trilateral Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) to establish a common security strategy and promote economic growth, competitiveness and quality of life. . . . All three countries have agreed to create a single, integrated program for North American trusted travelers by 2008.” Press release from U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 6-27-05.
• The Texas segment (known as the Trans-Texas Corridor) will begin construction next year. . . . In April 2006, TxDOT released a 4000-page Environmental Impact Statement that describes a corridor that will be 1200 feet wide (the size of four football fields). It will parallel Interstate 35, and be five lanes north and five lanes south (3 cars, 2 trucks). In the middle will be pipelines and rail lines. It will also have a 200-foot wide utility corridor. The corridor will start in Laredo, Texas, run past Austin to the Texas-Oklahoma border. However, the plans ultimately call for building some 4,000 miles of highway-railway-utility super-corridors throughout Texas over the next 50 years, using some 584,000 acres of what is now Texas farm and ranchland, at an estimated cost of $184 billion. . . . This NAFTA superhighway will connect with ports in Mexico (specifically Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas) for NAFTA trade. The plan is to ship containers of cheap goods produced by under-market labor in China and the Far East into North America via Mexican ports. From the Mexican ports, Mexican truck drivers and railroad workers will transport the goods across the Mexican border with Texas. Once in the U.S., the routes will proceed north to Kansas City along the NAFTA Super-Highway, ready to be expanded by the Trans-Texas Corridor and NAFTA railroad routes being put in place by Kansas City Southern.” Point of View, Commentary by Kerby Anderson, 10-20-06.
• “What is NASCO? It is a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization that functions as a trade association and sometimes lobbying group for the public and private entities that are members. NASCO is an acronym for North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition. . . . According to the groups’ website, NASCO is ‘dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor.’ . . . The city of Kansas City, Mo, and the Kansas City SmartPort are both listed on the NASCO website as NASCO members. The Kansas City Area Development Council has directly confirmed that the Kansas City SmartPort intends to build a Mexican customs facility to facilitate out-going traffic headed to Mexico. . . . The Kansas City SmartPort brochure could not be more explicit: ‘Kansas City offers the opportunity for sealed cargo containers to travel to Mexican port cities with virtually no border delays. It will streamline shipments from Asia.'” Posted by Jerome Corsi, Human Events, 6-26-06.
• “This spring, city officials signed off on a 50-year lease for the Mexican facility, with an option for 50 more years. . . . The council earlier this year earmarked $2.5 million in loans and $600,000 in direct aid to SmartPort, which would build and own the inland customs facility and sublet it to the Mexican government through agreements with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. . . . The Mexican government would have no significant investment and would occupy the customs facility operation rent-free. . . . SmartPort set up the deal to avoid imposing any expenses on Mexico above its ordinary border costs. . . . SmartPort meanwhile is seeking a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to purchase high-tech gamma-ray screening devices for drive-through inspections of truck cargo. . . . Confusion and secrecy have been hallmarks of the ambitious project. At the outset, Gutierrez and others have said the customs facility would be sovereign Mexican soil similar to a foreign embassy. This has changed.” Posted by the Kansas City Star, 7-18-06
• “Kansas City, Missouri is planning to allow the Mexican government to open a Mexican customs office in conjunction with the Kansas City SmartPort. This will be the first foreign customs facility allowed to operate on U.S. soil. . . . Supercargo ships, carrying goods made by cheap labor in the Far East and China, will unload in the Mexican port at Lazaro Cardenas, eliminating the need to use costly union longshoremen workers in Los Angeles or Long Beach. Rather than transporting the containers by trucks from the West Coast, using Teamster drivers, or on rail, with the assistance of railroad labor in the United Transportation Union, the containers will be loaded onto Mexican non-union railroads at Lazaro Cardenas. At Monterrey, Mexico, the containers will then be loaded onto Mexican non-union semi-trailer trucks that will cross the border at Laredo, Texas, to begin their journey north along the Trans-Texas Corridor, the first leg of the planned continental NAFTA Super Corridor.” Posted by Jerome Corsi on WorldNetDaily, 6-5-06.
• “On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.6 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia’s Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years. . . . Last year, the city [Chicago] sold a 99-year lease on the eight-mile Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion. The buyer was the same consortium that leased the Indiana Toll Road: Macquarie Infrastructure Group of Sydney, Australia, and Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte of Madrid, Spain.” Associated Press, 7-15-06.
• “Homeland Security officials, who initially said there are about 850 terminals nationwide, now say there are 3,200 terminals, up to about 80 percent of which are operated by foreign companies and countries.” Posted by the Washington Times, 3-8-06.