Forget the 51st state, Mr. President, and consider a common market with Canada

[Canuck Conservative]

By Post Editorial Board
NY Post (Mar. 29, 2025)
https://nypost.com/2025/03/29/opinion/trump-should-consider-a-common-market-with-canada/

A deal to let labor, goods and capital flow freely both ways would be a boon to both economies, similar to the early days of European economic integration, before European Union bureaucrats started regulating industries within an inch of their lives.

And it would avoid the drawbacks of the statehood approach — two more senators for the Democrats and the yoke of absorbing a relatively sluggish economy. (If it joined the union, Canada would be the fourth poorest state.)

The key is to make it true free trade, not a complex mess of red tape: The two nations could then act as a bloc when it came to tariffs and freedom of movement with other countries as well.

Indeed, Ronald Reagan endorsed a common market with Canada in his 1980 presidential campaign before negotiating the more limited Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.

The two economies are already heavily intertwined.

Much of America’s cattle are born state-side before being shipped across the northern border to graze, then shipped back to be processed; auto parts (which Trump just targeted for a 25% tariff) make a similar back-and-forth journey en route to finished vehicles.

Smoothing out such transfers would boost profits and efficiency in dozens of industries.

And national security needn’t be compromised: Free movement of labor could simply mean that citizens are seamlessly hired at companies in either country without the fuss of visas; quick passport checks at the border could continue.

In negotiations, Washington could insist that Ottawa strengthen its immigration screening for terrorists and criminals — and allow for the sharing of technology, databases and security training.

Opening up trade with Canada makes a lot more sense, and would benefit Americans a lot more, than a trade war or the other extreme of statehood....

[Canuck Conservative]

THIS is the kind of trade deal that should have been signed in 1988, not the 3-way NAFTA ...

Mexico is a low-wage outlier that never should have been included, it just sucks away industries from both the US and Canada!

Canada and the US are joined at the hip geographically and culturally, it would make more sense to cooperate economically, than fight.

/rant

[Mod2]

Moved to Editorial

[Kamaji]

Good idea.

[catfish1957]

THIS is the kind of trade deal that should have been signed in 1988, not the 3-way NAFTA ...

Mexico is a low-wage outlier that never should have been included, it just sucks away industries from both the US and Canada!

Canada and the US are joined at the hip geographically and culturally, it would make more sense to cooperate economically, than fight.

/rant

I've heard and seen Trudeau's rhetoric....  not hardly.

Your  government confiscating funds from bank accounts for protesting?  No thanks. 

[roamer_1]

THIS is the kind of trade deal that should have been signed in 1988, not the 3-way NAFTA ...

Mexico is a low-wage outlier that never should have been included, it just sucks away industries from both the US and Canada!

Canada and the US are joined at the hip geographically and culturally, it would make more sense to cooperate economically, than fight.

/rant

I will reiterate once again, even yet:

I live 60 miles from the Alberta border.

For many, many years, 'Canadian Days' was a big annual thing in my town. Canadians were honored here, and for the Canadan Days time frame, Looney bucks were honored straight across - without the exchange rate. That was a HUGE weekend here, with a gigantic following coming down every year to purchase. Yes, it was basically 30% off because of the exchange, which is a pretty big hit to retailers, but they WANTED it... It was a massive monetary injection... It was a big, big time for much of my early life.

Equally, Canucks came down for our rodeo, and we went up to Calgary for the Stampede, every single year for most of my childhood and young-adulthood.

I used to cross the border with nothing but a valid MT driver's license, and only had to declare alcohol and tobacco for duty (which no one ever checked)

Companies I worked for crossed the border for logging and road-building operations, and hunting and fishing used to be reasonable. More than here, but not bad...

EVERYTHING, including firearms, crosses the border to enter Alaska - We used to have quite a bit of traffic across the border with our folks traveling through to go to work in seasonal Alaskan jobs

Look. It will NEVER be even trade. The Looney buck can't stand against the Yankee buck.Never has, and never will. That imbalance will ALWAYS be there. And likewise, volume. They are, as a nation (territories included), roughly the population  of a big state. There will ALWAYS be an imbalance in trade for that reason alone.

It WON'T be even. It CAN'T be fair. But it can surely be a whole helluva lot better than it is now - More like how I remember it, plz.