Canada faces challenges to its living standards and economic position that the events of September 11, 2001, exacerbated. Although made-in-Canada efforts are required to improve our productivity performance, access to the US market is essential but less assured than it was. Paradoxically, a window of opportunity is now open because of the United States' current openness to its friends and neighbors. Canada should decide how to take advantage of this opportunity. With power so dispersed in the US political system and with the Bush administration's exclusive focus on homeland security and defense, only a Big Idea will succeed, one that addresses US objectives while creating new economic opportunities for Canada. This Commentary explores three such ideas - each of which would be a step toward removing remaining bilateral economic barriers. One idea is a customs union, which could be created by adopting a common tariff or a common external trade policy toward the rest of the world, allowing free circulation of goods and services within the common area. A second idea is a common market, which would free up the movement of people and flows of capital and technology, and common institutions could administer common standards, regulations, and policies that must be harmonized throughout the economic space. The third idea is a pragmatic strategic bargain that Canada would initiate to achieve its objectives. Canadian initiatives would be required in areas of interest to the United States, specifically border security, immigration, and defense. Energy security is another key area where Canada should build on its existing strengths. In exchange for these initiatives, Canada should seek customs-union- and common- market-like arrangements that achieve deeper integration but recognize deep attachments to political independence and distinctive national institutions. As part of the package, Canada should seek to eliminate troublesome barriers to people, trade, and foreign direct investment. Negotiations would be needed to curb US trade remedy laws that continue to harass softwood lumber producers; strengthen dispute settlement mechanisms; and develop the much-delayed common competition policy needed for industries that support growing North American production networks.

What we call "North America" today is a human space that has been constructed over the centuries, perceived from time immemorial by its original inhabitants as a unified whole, and named Turtle Island. What is North America today? Is it more than the sum of its parts? Does it qualify as a distinct global region? Is it just a market or also something else? This book explores several neglected aspects of the key relationships between Canada, Mexico and the United States. Studies of societal relations in North America have typically been limited to trade, investment and intergovernmental relations. In contrast, the authors in this book address other vital issues which bind this global region together, including Indigenous peoples, security, migration, civil societies, democracy, identities and culture. Via a thorough examination of these issues, the historical, sociological, economic, and political aspects of regional linkages are highlighted. Rather than dealing with each country in isolation, each chapter in this collection considers North America as a single unit of analysis, therefore systematically addressing the regional dynamic as a whole, and engaging the country-specific differences in a truly comparative way. By providing the analytical tools needed, this important book makes sense of the different aspects of the complex societies of contemporary North America.

Future economic policy, trade policy, competitiveness, USA - technology, monetary policy, exchange rates, business and entrepreneurship, labour relations, Motivation, GATT trade agreements, retraining, organization development, Innovation, workers adaptation, pension schemes, etc. References.

The U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders are the two busiest land crossings in the world. Canada and the United States are each other's largest trading partners and Mexico is America's second largest trading partner with trade between the two nations more than tripling since the start of NAFTA. The many immediate ripple effects of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon included a dramatic tightening of North American border controls and a hardening of the policy discourse about cross-border flows. This is the first book that explores the implications of September 11th and the new war on terrorism for border controls, cross-border relations, and economic integration in North America. The volume makes a unique contribution to important scholarly and policy discussions over the meaning and management of borders in an increasingly borderless (regional and global) economy, and adds fuel to broader debates over the changing nature of borders and territorial politics in a radically transformed security environment.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Bold new economic policies are supplanting traditional notions about the relationship between national and international markets throughout Latin America. Regional integration and neoliberal reforms have combined to overturn more traditional approaches to national development in the region. This volume captures the content of these changes and analyzes their implications for the Western Hemisphere.