Mexico mega-port plan key to 'NAFTA superhighways'

WASHINGTON – There are mixed signals coming from Mexico about the fate of a proposed mega-port in Baja California for mainly Chinese goods that would be shipped on rail lines and "NAFTA superhighways" running through the U.S. to Canada.

The port at Punta Colonet, planned as a major container facility to transfer Asian goods into America's heartland, got at least a temporary setback when a Mexican businessman announced a competing project in which he was seeking to secure mineral rights in the area.

Gabriel Chavez, originally one of the principal movers behind the port plan, now says there are significant amounts of titanium and iron to be mined offshore – a project he considers more important than the port.

Mexican ports czar Cesar Patricio Reyes placed a moratorium on further work toward port planning for three or four months while the government explores ways to make everyone happy.

It is no secret the Mexican government is still committed to the port plan. A map from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies shows the proposed goods route into a North American community.

According to transportation officials in Arizona, one of the sites considered for a rail line from Punta Colonet, the Mexican government has released an official directive stating its intention to create a new marine facility there -- about 150 miles south of the U.S. border.

The port at Punta Colonet, when completed, is expected to rival the biggest West Coast ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, both heavily congested now.

Bringing goods into a Mexican port would mean lower costs for foreign shippers because of cheaper labor and less restrictive environmental regulations.

Hutchison Ports Mexico, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., is keeping reports about progress on the venture close to the vest.

Only recently has the port become a source of controversy in the U.S. as Americans begin questioning highway and rail projects criss-crossing the country – many of which are designed to carry product from Mexico to the U.S. and Canada on the so-called "NAFTA superhighways."

Resentment is building inside the U.S. because of what appear to be secretive plans made outside normal government policymaking channels about immigration, border policies, transportation and integration of the three North American nations.

Transportation Secretary Maria Cino has promised to release plans within months for a one-year, NAFTA pilot program permitting Mexican truckers beyond the limited commercial zone to which they are currently restricted.

The program will likely involve about 100 Mexican trucking companies, the Department of Transportation says.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement – NAFTA – the borders were to open partially to truckers from both countries in 1995. Full access was promised by 2000. Because of the restrictions on Mexican trucks, the Mexican government has imposed limits on U.S. truckers.

The U.S. restrictions were placed by the Clinton administration in response to demands from the Teamsters union, which said Mexican trucks posed safety and environmental risks. Currently, the U.S. permits Mexican truckers only in commercial zones close to the border that extend no further than 20 miles from Mexico.

While the American Trucking Association supports opening the border, other unions have joined in opposition with the Teamsters. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association came out this month in opposition to any Mexican truck pilot program.

Todd Spencer, the association's executive vice president, said the program would jeopardize safety on U.S. roads and would lead to an influx of cheap Mexican labor.

"A move by the U.S. Department of Transportation to open U.S. roadways to Mexican trucks puts the interest of foreign trade and cheap labor ahead of everything else, including highway safety, homeland security and the well being of hardworking Americans," Spencer said.

In a letter to the Interstate Trade Commission, Spencer wrote: "The net effect of admission of Mexican trucks into the U.S. marketplace would undoubtedly be negative. The supposed benefits to consumers from speculative reductions in shipping rates would be offset by the societal costs that are difficult to measure, but are easy to identify."

Raising more suspicions that such plans are leading to a future integration of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, a high-level, top-secret meeting of the North American Forum took place this month in Banff – with topics ranging from "A Vision for North America," "Opportunities for Security Cooperation" and "Demographic and Social Dimensions of North American Integration."

Despite "confirmed" participants including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Central Intelligence Agency Director R. James Woolsey, former Immigration and Naturalization Services Director Doris Meissner, North American Union guru Robert Pastor, former Defense Secretary William Perry, former Energy Secretary and Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and top officials of both Mexico and Canada, there has been no press coverage of the event. The only media member scheduled to appear at the event, according to documents obtained by WND, was the Wall Street Journal's Mary Anastasia O'Grady.

The event was organized by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Canada West Foundation, an Alberta think-tank that promotes closer economic integration with the United States.

The Canadian event is just the latest of a series of meetings, policy papers and directives that have citizens, officials and members of the media wondering whether these efforts represent some sort of coordinated effort to implement a "merger" some have characterized as "NAFTA on steroids."

Last week, government documents released by a Freedom of Information Act request revealed the Bush administration is running what some observers see as a "shadow government" with Mexico and Canada in which the U.S. is crafting a broad range of policy in conjunction with its neighbors to the north and south.

first things first, if you are going to talk about someone, ping them.

T'sk. You took care of that inadvertant omission for me. Thanks!

Secondly, he can have his own opinion, I have my own.

Doubtful.

And unlike some who are continually harping this NAU BS, opinions on our side of the argument can and will vary and are allowed too.

So who are you failing to ping now?

Finally, let's remember that while the origins of this debate are murky at best, quote sources that are from the Canadian ULTRA-LEFT won't exactly help your argument on THIS website.

From long observance, there is no way that WorldNetDaily, Joseph Farrah, Phyllis Schafly, or our fellow FReeper Jerome Corsi are on the Left. Meanwhile, you guys are all-systems-go to "push the borders out." That doesn't put you guys anywhere close to being "on the right" in the remotest degree.

And then, suspiciously, you are utterly silent on the enablers of the "hypothetical" NAU:

Task Force Members
PEDRO ASPE is CEO of Protego, a leading investment banking advisory firm in Mexico. Mr. Aspe was most recently the Secretary of the Treasury of Mexico (1988-1994). He has been a Professor of Economics at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) and has held a number of positions in the Mexican government.
THOMAS S. AXWORTHY is the Chairman of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University. From 1981 to 1984, Dr. Axworthy was Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Trudeau. Since 2001, he has served as Chairman of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
HEIDI S. CRUZ is an energy investment banker with Merrill Lynch in Houston, Texas. She served in the Bush White House under Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the Economic Director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council, as the Director of the Latin America Office at the U.S. Treasury Department, and as Special Assistant to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative. Prior to government service, Ms. Cruz was an investment banker with J.P. Morgan in New York City.
NELSON W. CUNNINGHAM is Managing Partner of Kissinger McLarty Associates, the international strategic advisory firm. He advised John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign on international economic and foreign policy issues, and previously served in the Clinton White House as Special Adviser to the President for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He earlier served as a lawyer at the White House, as Senate Judiciary Committee General Counsel under then-chairman Joseph Biden, and as a federal prosecutor in New York.
THOMAS P. D'AQUINOIS is Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), composed of one-hundred-fifty chief executives of major enterprises in Canada. A lawyer, entrepreneur, and business strategist, he has served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Canada and Adjunct Professor of Law lecturing on the law of international trade. He is the Chairman of the CCCE's North American Security and Prosperity Initiative launched in 2003.
ALFONSO DE ANGOITA is Executive Vice President and Chairman of the Finance Committee of Grupo Televisa, S.A. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Committee of the company since 1997, and served as Chief Financial Officer (1999-2003). Prior to joining Grupo Televisa, S.A., he was a partner of the law firm of Mijares, Angoitia, Cortes y Fuentes, S.C., in Mexico City.
LUIS DE LA CALLE PARDO is Managing Director and founding partner at De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera, S.C. He served as Undersecretary for International Trade Negotiations in Mexico's Ministry of the Economy and negotiated several of Mexico's bilateral free trade agreements and regional and multilateral agreements with the World Trade Organization. As Trade and NAFTA Minister at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, DC, he was instrumental in crafting and implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement.
WENDY K. DOBSON is Professor and Director, Institute for International Business, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She has served as President of the C.D. Howe Institute and Associate Deputy Minister of Finance in the government of Canada. She is Vice Chair of the Canadian Public Accountability Board and a nonexecutive director of several corporations.
RICHARD A. FALKENRATH is Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Previously, he served as Deputy Homeland Security Adviser and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Policy and Plans at the White House's Office of Homeland Security. He is also Senior Director of the Civitas Group LLC, a strategic advisory and investment services firm serving the homeland security market, a security analyst for the Cable News Network (CNN), and a member of the Business Advisory Board of Arxan Technologies.
RAFAEL FERNANDEZ DE CASTRO is the founder and head of the Department of International Studies at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM). Dr. Fernandez de Castro is also the editor of Foreign Affairs en Espanol, the sister magazine of Foreign Affairs. He also has columns in Reforma and the weekly magazine Proceso.
RAMON ALBERTO GARZA is President and General Director of Montemedia, a consulting firm specializing in media, public image, entrepreneur relations, and politics in the Americas. He was the founding Executive Editor of Reforma and President of Editorial Televisa.
GORDON D. GIFFIN is Senior Partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, and served as U.S. Ambassador to Canada (1997-2001). He also spent five years as Chief Counsel and Legislative Director to U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. He currently serves on several major corporate boards, as well as the Board of Trustees of the Carter Center, in addition to his international law practice.
ALLAN GOTLIEB was Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Undersecretary of State for External Affairs, and Chairman of the Canadian Council. He is currently a senior adviser to the law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP, and Chairman of Sotheby's Canada and the Donner Foundation. He has also been a member of the board of a number of Canadian and U.S. corporations, taught at various universities in both countries, and written several books and articles on international law and international affairs.
MICHAEL HART holds the Simon Reisman Chair in trade policy in the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. He is a former official in Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, founding director of Carleton's Centre for Trade Policy and Law, and the author of more than a dozen books and a hundred articles on Canadian trade and foreign policy.
CARLOS HEREDIA is Senior Adviser on International Affairs to Governor Lazaro Cardenas-Batel of the State Michoacan. He has held senior positions in the Ministry of Finance and the Mexico City government. For over twenty years, he has worked with Mexican, Canadian, and U.S. nongovernmental organizations, promoting economic citizenship and participatory development. Since 2002, he has been Vice President of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI).
CARLA A. HILLS is Chairman and CEO of Hills & Company, an international consulting firm providing advice to U.S. businesses on investment, trade, and risk assessment issues abroad, particularly in emerging market economies. She also serves as Vice Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations. From 1989 to 1993, Ambassador Hills served as U.S. Trade Representative in the first Bush administration, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice in the Ford administration.
GARY C. HUFBAUER was Director of Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and holder of the Maurice Greenberg chair in 1997 and 1998. He then resumed his position as Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics. Together with Jeffrey J. Schott, he authored a new appraisal of NAFTA, published in the fall of 2005.
PIERRE MARC JOHNSON is a former Premier of Quebec, attorney, and physician, and has also been Counsel to the law offices of Heenan Blaikie since 1996. He was a senior member of Rene Levesque's cabinet (1976-85) and succeeded Mr. Levesque. Since 1987, Mr. Johnson has been Professor of Law at McGill University and an adviser to the United Nations in international environmental negotiations. He has written numerous books and essays on trade and the environment, civil society participation, and globalization. He lectures in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and serves on Canadian and European boards.
JAMES R. JONES is CEO of Manatt Jones Global Strategies, a business consulting firm. Formerly, he was U.S. Ambassador to Mexico (1993-97), President of Warnaco International, Chairman and Chief Executive Order of the American Stock Exchange, and U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma from 1973 to 87 (D-OK), where he was Chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was Appointments Secretary (currently known as Chief of Staff) to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He is Chairman of Meridian International and the World Affairs Councils of America, and is a board member of Anheuser-Busch, Grupo Modelo, Keyspan Energy Corporation, and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
CHAPPELL H. LAWSON is a Project Director of this Task Force, and is also an Associate Professor of political science at MIT, where he holds the Class of 1954 Career Development Chair. Before joining the MIT faculty, he served as Director for Inter-American Affairs on the National Security Council.
JOHN P. MANLEY is Senior Counsel at McCarthy Tetrault LLP. He has held several senior portfolios in the Canadian government throughout his fifteen years of public service -- including industry, foreign affairs, and finance -- as well as holding the position of Deputy Prime Minister. Following 9/11, he was named Chairman of the Public Security and Anti-terrorism Cabinet Committee and, in that capacity, negotiated the Smart Border Agreement with U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Thomas Ridge.
DAVID McD. MANN, Q.C., is Counsel at Cox Hanson O'Reilly Matheson, an Atlantic-Canadian law firm. He is the former Vice Chairman and former President and CEO of Emera Inc., a diversified investor-owned energy and services company.
DORIS M. MEISSNER is Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in Washington, DC. She has worked in the field of immigration policy and international migration for 30 years in both government and policy research organizations. She served as a senior official in the U.S. Department of Justice during the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations, and as a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She returned to government during the Clinton years as Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1993-2000.
THOMAS M.T. NILES is Vice Chairman of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in September 1998, following a career of more than thirty-six-years and having served as Ambassador to Canada (1985-1989), Ambassador to the European Union (1989-1991), Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Canada (1991-1993), and Ambassador to Greece (1993-1997).
BEATRIZ PAREDES serves as President of the Fundacion Colosio, A.C. Ms. Paredes is a former Ambassador of Mexico to the Republic of Cuba and former Governor of the State of Tlaxcala (1987-92). She was the first female Governor of that state and only the second woman ever to be elected Governor in Mexico. She is also a former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
ROBERT A. PASTOR is Director of the Center for North American Studies, Vice President of International Affairs, and Professor at American University. From 1977 to 1981, he was Director of Latin American Affairs on the National Security Council. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World to the New.
ANDRES ROZENTAL is President of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales. Mr. Rozental was a career diplomat for more than thirty years, having served his country as Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1995-1997), Deputy Foreign Minister (1988-1994), Ambassador to Sweden (1983-1988), and Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations inGeneva (1982-1983). During 2001, he was Ambassador-at-Large and Special Envoy for President Vicente Fox.
LUIS RUBIO is President of the Centro de Investigacion Para el Desarrollo-Center of Research for Development (CIDAC), an independent research institution devoted to the study of economic and political policy issues. Before joining CIDAC, in the 1970s he was Planning Director of Citibank in Mexico and served as an adviser to Mexico's Secretary of the Treasury. He is also a contributing editor of Reforma.
JEFFREY J. SCOTT is Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics. He was formerly an official of the U.S. Treasury and U.S. trade negotiator, and has taught at Princeton and Georgetown Universities. He has authored or coauthored fifteen books on international trade, including NAFTA: Achievements and Challenges, NAFTA: An Assessment; North American Free Trade, and The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The Global Impact.
WILLIAM F. WELD is Principal at Leeds Weld & Co., a private equity investment firm in New York. Previously Mr. Weld was elected to two terms as Governor of Massachusetts (1991-1997), served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC (1986-1988), and as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts during the Reagan administration (1981-1986).
RAUL H. YZAGUIRRE currently serves as the Presidential Professor of Practice at Arizona State University (Community Development and Civil Rights). Mr. Yzaguirre, who recently retired as President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in Washington, DC (1974-2005), spearheaded the council's emergence as the largest constituency-based national Hispanic organization and think tank in the United States.

reference material

Task Force Report No. 53

Press Releases: English | French | Spanish

Sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in association with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales.

North America is vulnerable on several fronts: the region faces terrorist and criminal security threats, increased economic competition from abroad, and uneven economic development at home. In response to these challenges, a trinational, Independent Task Force on the Future of North America has developed a roadmap to promote North American security and advance the well-being of citizens of all three countries.

When the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States met in Texas recently they underscored the deep ties and shared principles of the three countries. The Council-sponsored Task Force applauds the announced "Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America," but proposes a more ambitious vision of a new community by 2010 and specific recommendations on how to achieve it.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Trinational Call for a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010
March 14, 2005
Council on Foreign Relations

Press Release: French| Spanish

March 14, 2005 - Three former high-ranking government officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States are calling for a North American economic and security community by 2010 to address shared security threats, challenges to competitiveness, and interest in broad-based development across the three countries.

Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of FinanceJohn P. Manley, former Finance Minister of MexicoPedro Aspe, and former Governor of Massachusetts and Assistant U.S. Attorney General William F. Weld make policy recommendations to articulate a long-term vision for North America in a Chairmen's Statement of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in association with the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief ExecutivesThomas d'Aquino, President of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales Andres Rozental, and Director of the Center for North American Studies at American University Robert A. Pastor serve as vice chairs of the Task Force. Chappell H. Lawson, associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the director.

The statement was released in Washington, DC today in advance of the upcoming North American Summit on March 23 in Texas with President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and Mexican President Vicente Fox. It reflects the consensus of the chairs and vice chairs. In the spring, the Task Force will release its complete report, which will assess the results of the Texas summit and reflect the views of the full membership.

Findings and recommendations:

Build a North American economic and security community by 2010. To enhance security, prosperity, and opportunity for all North Americans, the chairs propose a community defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter.
Create the institutions necessary for a North American community. The chairs propose annual summit meetings among the three countries and the creation of a North American Advisory Council to prepare for and implement the decisions made at the summits.

Enhance North American competitiveness with a common external tariff. Over the last decade, nations around the world, from China to India to Latin America to the expanded membership of the European Union, have become increasingly integrated into the global market. To meet these challenges to North American competitiveness, the chairs recommend that the three governments negotiate a common external tariff on a sector-by-sector basis at the lowest rate consistent with multilateral obligations: "Unwieldy rules of origin, increasing congestion at ports of entry, and regulatory differences among the three countries raise our costs instead of reducing them."

Develop a border pass for North Americans. The chairs propose a border pass, with biometric indicators, which would allow expedited passage through customs, immigration, and airport security throughout North America. "The governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States should commit themselves to the long-term goal of dramatically reducing the need for physical scrutiny of traffic, travel, and trade within North America."

Adopt a unified Border Action Plan. The three governments should "strive toward a situation in which a terrorist trying to penetrate our borders will have an equally hard time doing so no matter which country he elects to enter first. "First steps should include: harmonized visa and asylum regulations; joint inspection of container traffic entering North American ports; and synchronized screening and tracking of people, goods, and vessels, including integrated "watch" lists. Security cooperation should extend to counterterrorism and law enforcement, and could include the establishment of a trinational threat intelligence center and joint training for law enforcement officials. On the defense front, the most important step is to expand the binational North American Aerospace Defense Command to make it a multi-service Canada-U.S. command with a mandate to protect the maritime as well as air approaches to North America. Canada and the United States should invite Mexico to consider closer military cooperation in the future.

Narrow the development gap with Mexico. While trade and investment flows have increased dramatically, the development gap between Mexico and its two northern neighbors has widened. "Low wages and lack of economic opportunity in parts of Mexico stimulate undocumented immigration, and contribute to human suffering, which sometimes translates into violence." Mexico must increase its rate of economic growth and decide on the steps it will take to attract investment and stimulate growth. As a matter of their own national interests, the United States and Canada should assist Mexico by establishing a North American Investment Fund, designed to channel resources for the purpose of connecting the poorer parts of the country to the markets in the north.

Develop a North American energy and natural resource security strategy. Canada and Mexico are the two largest oil exporters to the United States; Canada alone supplies the United States with over 95% of its imported natural gas and 100% of its imported electricity. The three governments should expand and protect energy infrastructure, fully exploit continental reserves, conserve fossil fuels, and reduce emissions. "Regional collaboration on conservation and emissions could form the basis for a North American alternative to the Kyoto protocol."

Deepen educational ties. "Given its historical, cultural, political, and economic ties, North America should have the largest educational exchange network in the world." To that end, the chairs recommend expanding scholarship and exchange programs, developing Centers for North American Studies in all three countries, and cross-border training programs for school teachers.

Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other governments.

The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations(COMEXI) is the only multi-disciplinary organization committed to fostering sophisticated, broadly inclusive political discourse and analysis on the nature of Mexico's participation in the international arena and the relative influence of Mexico's increasingly global orientation on domestic priorities. The Council is an independent, non-profit, pluralistic forum, with no government or institutional ties that is financed exclusively by membership dues and corporate support. The main objectives of COMEXI are to provide information and analysis of interest to our associates, as well as to create a solid institutional framework for the exchange of ideas concerning pressing world issues that affect our country.

Founded in 1976, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives is Canada's premier business association, with an outstanding record of achievement in matching entrepreneurial initiative with sound public policy choices. A not-for-profit, non-partisan organization composed of the chief executives of 150 leading Canadian enterprises, the CCCE was the Canadian private sector leader in the development and promotion of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement during the 1980s and of the subsequent trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/7914/trinational_call_for_a_north_american_economic_and_security_community_by_2010.html

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