Perimeter: NAFTA 2.0?

Earlier today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the details of Canada’s Beyond the Border perimeter trade and security deal with the United States. Key features include a new entry-exit system, a new information collection system and infrastructure upgrades. All at the cost of $1 billion.

But, there’s a rub. Many of the elements of the deal are not planned until 2014. And by that time, there will be a new President and, potentially, a new Party in Washington. Amid this uncertainty, we ask two Canada-U.S. experts, Duncan Wood and Robert Pastor, for their initial reactions to the deal.

Duncan Wood: A Step in the Right Direction

OpenCanada: Did you expect more of this perimeter deal? Why is the deal not taking effect immediately and, instead, rolling out over the course of several years?

Duncan Wood: I think it is perfectly understandable that these changes will be phased in. Remember that the NAFTA itself was not a one time deal but something that took 15 years to take full effect. The changes are huge and mark a qualitative step forward in the economic and political relationship between the two countries. It is now clear that there are two speeds in North America, with Mexico relegated to a second class position. 

OC: What challenges do internal U.S. politics present to the perimeter deal? Will President Obama have to demonstrate the same commitment as Reagan in 1988, as Colin Robertson suggests, to make the perimeter deal stick?

DW: My feeling is that this will receive broad support from the Republican party but a tepid reception from the Democrats. Obama will have to convince his party that this move is in the interest of job creation and border communities.

DW: I doubt that we will see much difference with regards to Canadian citizens but certainly for visitors to Canada there will be stricter controls and more demanding background information check ups.

Robert Pastor: A Trilateral Solution Would Have Been Better

It is commendable that the U.S. and Canada are trying to make the borders both more efficient and more secure. They have been trying to do this since even before 9/11, and past declarations and “smart border” statements have pointed up two flaws that are also true of the declaration today.    

First, it’s easy to declare, but hard to implement.  

And second, though Canadians like to point out how different their border is from that of Mexico’s; the truth is that they are agonizingly similar in the delays, bureaucracy, and duplication, and that the best way to address those challenges would be in a trilateral, North American agreement.

Photo courtesy Reuters.