2 January 2004

The following essay is part of an article entitled “Forecast 2004” from “American Shipper”, published on 2 January 2004.

Open border

There are risks to “thinking out of the box” — ideas that seem far-fetched can suddenly leap-frog ahead in credibility, generally spurred by the money and time they would save.

As 2004 begins, one such idea is being raised by importers, exporters, trucking companies and freight forwarders along the U.S.-Canadian border. They are asking if the time hasn’t come to open the border. Why not take down gate plazas at the 22 official crossing points, so that one could drive from the United States into Canada, or the reverse, as effortlessly as crossing a state or province line?

On the map, the border would still exist. There would still be U.S. and Canadian customs offices at their present locations to handle problems.

One positive change would be that the manpower and costs which now go into border inspections could be focused on interdiction efforts, shutting down criminals and terrorists at their origins in both nations.

Would this really mean just letting anyone or anything come in? Not if you think of the border as already redundant. Since the United States and Canada each strictly controls the entry and processing of people and goods arriving from abroad, why not let people and freight pass without hindrance between the two countries?

Opening the northern border would require certain admissions akin to the famous myth of ‘the emperor’s new clothes.’ The myth said an emperor may go about quite naked, but lip service must be paid nonetheless to the skill of his tailor. First, the United States would have to admit that it treats Canada and Mexico quite differently.

As yet, the U.S. cannot have an open southern border, despite the velocity at which the northern provinces of Mexico are becoming entwined with the culture of the Southwestern states.

The United States would also have to deal with Canadian fears of breeched sovereignty. As a friend in Halifax put it, “we are only 32 million people in the second-largest country, land-wise, after Russia. It’s hard enough now to keep the U.S. at arm’s length.”

Yet in the European Union, the easy transit of national borders has contributed to communal prosperity without making any nation feel less sovereign.

In 2004, there will be serious arguments made in Ottawa and Washington, D.C., by business interests fed up with increasing border delays, congestion and hassles that have created an expensive and arguably irrelevant barrier to commerce. (Robert Mottley)