Creating a North American Community

Creating a North American Community

Chairmen’s Statement

March 2005 , 15 Pages

Report

Press Release: English | French | Spanish

Robert A. Pastor

Professor and Founding Director of the Center for North American Studies, American University

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

More on:

Mexico

United States

Canada

Three former high-ranking government officials from Canada, Mexico, and the United States call 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 Finance John P. Manley, former Finance Minister of Mexico Pedro 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 Executives Thomas 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 served as vice chairs of the Task Force. Chappell H. Lawson, associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the director.

More on:

Mexico

United States

Canada

Task Force Members

JOHN P. MANLEY is senior counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. He has held several senior portfolios in the Canadian government throughout his 15 years of public service including Industry, Foreign Affairs, and Finance as well as being 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 Tom Ridge .

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 (1988–94). He has been a professor of economics at ITAM and has held a number of positions with the Mexican government.

WILLIAM F. WELD is a 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 (1991–97), served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC (1986–88), and as the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts during the Reagan administration (1981–86).

THOMAS P. D'AQUINOIS is, Chief Executive of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), composed of 150 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.

ANDRES ROZENTAL is President of the Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales. Mr. Rozental was a career diplomat for more than 30 years, having served his country as Ambassador to the United Kingdom (1995–97), Deputy Foreign Minister (1988–94), Ambassador to Sweden (1983–88), and Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva (1982–83). During 2001, he was Ambassador-at-large and Special Envoy for President Vicente Fox.

ROBERT A. PASTOR is the 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 has a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University and is the author or editor of 16 books, including Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New.

CHAPPELL H. LAWSON is a Project Director of this Task Force, as well as 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.

Top Stories on CFR

Lebanon

An array of domestic and foreign powers are vying for influence in Lebanon, including the Lebanese Armed Forces, Hezbollah, Israel, Iran, Syria, and the United States.

China

China’s growing willingness to defy the international order, and its increasingly aggressive leadership, have led it to increasingly utilize economic coercion against countries it believes have defied China’s interests. This coercion can be powerful, and the United States and its partners have not been well-prepared for Beijing’s actions. The U.S. and others need to develop a response immediately.

Angola

The pardoning of Hunter Biden raises discomforting parallels as President Biden lands in Angola.