Regionalism and World Order: Part 2
Uniting North America? Reinvigorating the Old Idea of Continental Integration
The following is a summary. To read the full original article on Carl’s substack click here.
Regionalism and World Order: North America’s Ongoing Integration
Carl Teichrib traces the persistent idea of North American integration, showing that despite current political polarization, the concept has never fully disappeared. The article opens with President Trump’s provocative remark that Canada could become the “51st state,” a statement that reignited debate about deepening continental ties. Teichrib places this within a broader historical and intellectual framework: regional integration has long been seen as a stepping-stone toward a structured world order and potentially a reformed system of global governance.
The article reviews a steady stream of proposals for closer U.S.–Canada–Mexico cooperation. In March 2025, Arthur Herman of the Hudson Institute called for a Canadian-American superstate focused on energy, strategic minerals, AI, and defense. Economist Nouriel Roubini advocated harmonizing regulations, reshoring production, adopting common trade and financial policies, moving toward a fixed exchange rate, and ultimately forming a North American monetary union. Former Mexican finance minister Guillermo Ortiz suggested a customs union with a common external tariff. These ideas echo decades of academic, policy, and think-tank initiatives.
Teichrib chronicles the history of continental integration efforts, beginning with the early 1990s. In 1991, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico agreed to negotiate what became NAFTA, accompanied by research papers and books arguing for a common market and even a shared currency. NAFTA was signed in 1992 and implemented in 1994, prompting further scholarship and conferences on the theme of a North American community. The late 1990s saw the Bank of Canada exploring a potential monetary union and the Fraser Institute advocating for an “amero” currency.
The early 2000s brought more institutional momentum: creation of the North American Energy Working Group, Robert Pastor’s influential book Toward a North American Community, and multiple think-tank conferences linking continental integration to globalization. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives advanced a Security and Prosperity Initiative calling for harmonized regulations, resource security pacts, and border reinvention, though explicitly rejecting political union. By 2005, the Council on Foreign Relations released the Independent Task Force report Building a North American Community, envisioning seamless trade and security cooperation by 2010. The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) was signed by Bush, Fox, and Martin but collapsed in 2009 under public criticism over secrecy and sovereignty concerns.
Even after the SPP, the conversation continued. The North American Future 2025 Project and later CFR reports called for renewed continental strategies on energy, trade, security, and health. Shannon O’Neil testified before Congress that North America had become one of the most integrated regions in the world and urged advancing the partnership further. The Wilson Center’s 2022 report North America 2.0 argued that great-power rivalry and global economic shifts make renewed integration more strategically compelling.
Teichrib concludes that North America is uniquely positioned as an economic and energy powerhouse. Future integration may involve more than economic coordination—possibly touching sovereignty and governance—if the three nations confront global crises that demand a united response. Part 3 of the series will explore this potential deeper integration within a new world order.
