Beware of USMCA Integration Schemes
by Peter Rykowski, Research Associate and Bulletin Editor
In recent months, there have been several worrisome developments with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that could portend deeper integration and even transformation into a Western hemispheric-wide bloc.
In June, President Joe Biden announced the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), an “economic framework” to deepen economic and trade integration with Latin American countries. The agreement’s scope and provisions remain vague, but according to the White House’s description, its objectives include “reinvigorat[ing] the hemisphere’s regional economic institutions, such as the Inter-American Development Bank,” and “Ensuring Sustainable and Inclusive Trade.”
Although APEP is not a trade agreement, globalists are promoting it as a way to expand and further integrate the USMCA. In an article titled “How USMCA can drive trade cooperation in Latin America,” published by the Brookings Institution, its authors note that the U.S. political climate is not conducive to expanding the USMCA or creating other trade agreements. Instead, they argue, the U.S. should use APEP to effectively integrate Latin American countries into the USMCA without them formally joining, thus bypassing Congress.
This goal of transforming the USMCA to cover the entire Western hemisphere is eerily consistent with multiple recent statements by Mexico’s president and government. In the last two years, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has voiced his support multiple times for integrating the Americas into a European Union-style organization. For example, earlier this year, López Obrador stated, “Like the European Union, the entire American continent should be integrated.” He then called for not only “consolidat[ing] the integration of North America, but also think[ing] about Central America.” He promised to discuss this proposal with Biden prior to a July meeting, and the two leaders released a joint statement following the meeting promising further USMCA integration.
The USMCA threatens U.S. national sovereignty, and, as shown above, plans exist to strengthen and expand it. In response, members and chapters must actively work together to expose these schemes. Here are steps that you can take today to this effect:
- Distribute to others the TNA reprint “USMCA and the Quest for a North American Union” to create awareness of the USMCA’s threat to U.S. national sovereignty.
- Have all chapter members contact their U.S. representatives and senators in opposition to U.S. membership in the USMCA, and also urge them to oppose the creation of any “Western hemispheric union.” They can easily do this using JBS’s legislative alert at https://gojt.us/rkkz. Please also share this alert with others outside your chapter.
If we lose our national sovereignty, we will lose our country. But by taking informed and organized action, we can prevent that from happening.