The Future of Mexican-U.S. Economic Relations: Is the EU a Model for North America? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol.5 No. 16, July 2005

Canovas, Gustavo Vega. (2005) The Future of Mexican-U.S. Economic Relations: Is the EU a Model for North America? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol.5 No. 16, July 2005.

Abstract

[Introduction]. In the last few years some analysts and observers of North American integration in Mexico but also in the Unites States, have been proposing the need for a deepening of North American trade and investment liberalization toward higher levels of integration covering social and immigration policies. In these proposals normally one finds references to the European Union (EU) as a model of integration that North America should follow.1 In this paper I will address two questions. First, to what extent is the EU a useful model for the near future integration efforts in the North American region. Second, what is the likely future evolution of North American integration? In order to answer these two questions, first, I will compare the experiences of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the EU and will try to demonstrate that although NAFTA and the EU share important commonalities in terms of extent and depth of integration, they are also very different in terms of origins, goals, scope, degree of institutionalization and centralization and because of this, one important lesson one can draw from the EU experience is that higher convergence in the social field is not likely at least in the short term in North America. However, in the second part of the paper, I will argue that September 11th opens in my opinion a possibility to advance the process of integration in the trade and migration fronts. In order for this to happen a Schengen type of agreement would have to be negotiated between Mexico and the United States.