Daily Update from the CSCB for 6 November 2007

November 6, 2007
Security and prosperity?
 
This article is extracted from the 6 November 2007 edition of “globeandmail.com”.
 
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez seemed almost embarrassed as he paused during a speech last week to set the record straight about his country's Security and Prosperity Partnership with Canada and Mexico.
 
"There is no secret plan to a create a North American union or a common currency or intrude on the sovereignty of any partner nations," the former Kellogg Co. executive assured members of the Canadian and U.S. chambers of commerce, along with a cluster of U.S. and Canadian government officials.
 
A monster NAFTA highway from Tijuana to Tuktoyaktuk? Ain't happening either, he insisted.
 
No matter how often he repeats the disclaimer, "calls and e-mails" still flood the Commerce Department, a frustrated Mr. Gutierrez acknowledged….
 
The reality of the SPP and the perception among its critics couldn't be farther apart.
 
To a rag-tag collection of mainly U.S. groups from both ends of the political spectrum, the SPP is a secret plot by the Bush administration and Big Business to wipe out borders between the three countries, tap Canada's oil and throw a security cordon around it all.
 
The reality on the ground is quite different. As most travellers and businesses know, the border has become considerably less easy - or "thicker and stickier," as Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty put it.
 
Canada, which was the main architect of the SPP, saw the deal as a way to undo some of the economic damage caused by the post-Sept. 11 security angst and ward off new restrictions. To make the SPP more palatable to skeptical Americans, it was framed as a partnership to promote safe trade. Mexico was added to the mix, almost as an afterthought.
 
But many of its modest ambitions remain unfulfilled. And measured by the obstacles to travel and commerce - new and planned - the SPP is a disappointment….
 
Overseas travel to the United States has plunged 17 per cent since the 9/11 attacks, even as global travel has grown. …
 
At the same event in Washington where Mr. Gutierrez issued his SPP disclaimer, several business people complained about the many ways the border has become tougher.
 
This year was a "summer from hell" along the border, with some of the longest waits since 2001 for cars and trucks, said Stan Korosec, vice-president of operations of the Blue Water Bridge, which links Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich. He said U.S. border guards are asking more questions, doing more extensive database checks and sending more trucks to secondary inspection.
 
And that may be a prelude to what happens next year when the U.S. will begin requiring passports for most

Topic(s): 
Rules of Origin & Trade Agreements / Trade Agreements
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
Document Type: 
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