U.S. Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina expressed concern over the implications of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America on border security, American jobs and the nation’s sovereignty as President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met at last week’s North American Leaders’ Summit in Montebello, Canada.
“My constituents are troubled by our weakly defended borders, our exploding trade deficit and the erosion of our national sovereignty,” Jones said.
The SPP is a trilateral partnership between the United States, Mexico, and Canada established in March 2005. According to a White House document posted on the SPP’s Web site, the Bush administration and that of former Mexican President Vicente Fox and Harper formed the partnership to, among other things, “facilitate further the movement of … persons within North America” and to “maximize trade … across our borders by striving to ensure compatibility of regulations and standards and eliminating redundant testing and certification requirements.”
The document also announces that a series of trilateral working groups are convening to harmonize many of America’s regulations with those of Mexico and Canada.
“My constituents and I are extremely concerned about this partnership for many reasons,” Jones said. “Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states that Congress — not the executive branch — has the power to ‘regulate commerce with foreign nations.’ Also, many partnership working group meetings are held in secret, and the public, the press and members of Congress have no opportunity to participate or conduct oversight.”
Jones cited the effect on American employment and national security in stating his apprehension about partnership.
“Since NAFTA was approved, the United States has lost 3.1 million manufacturing jobs,” Jones said. “More than 10 thousand illegal aliens now stream across our southern border every week.
“The U.S. does not need its government equalizing standards and regulations that will result in more American jobs going to Mexico and more illegal aliens coming to America,” Jones said. “The SPP also appears to cast aside America’s sovereignty and takes another step towards combining the United States, Mexico and Canada into a single EU-style North American super state.”
“While the American people and Congress understand the importance of promoting good relations with our neighbors, these concerns will only intensify if pursuit of the SPP continues out of public view and without congressional oversight or approval,” Jones said.
Jones co-sponsored, along with U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., a congressional resolution that says the United States should not engage in the construction of a NAFTA Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.
“The economic and physical security of the United States is impaired by the potential loss of control of its borders attendant to the full operation of NAFTA and the SPP,” the resolution says.
John Engler and Jayson Myers, presidents respectively of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, wrote in an Aug. 22 Wall Street Journal opinion article that “borders serve not just national security, but also prosperity through wealth-creating trade and commerce.”
“For North America’s manufacturers and the millions of people we employ,” the two men wrote in support of SPP, “success means progress not only on security concerns but also on improving efficiency at our borders and reducing the regulatory burdens that hamper our ability to remain the world’s most productive and innovative industrial region.”