GR66
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
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Just going to throw this out there as a hypothetical for the sake of discussion.
Trump has two main issues with Canada which lead to his "suggestion" that Canada become the 51st State...trade deficits and security issues.
What if we upped the ante and proposed a Customs Union with the United States combined with a joint external border policy...basically free flow of goods between Canada and the US with a common security perimeter around the two countries. Border resources could be re-deployed to focus on overseas points of entry to prevent illegal goods/bad actors from getting into Canada/US in the first place.
We wouldn't have to go as far as the EU in integration and a common currency, but there would be definite economic benefits to harmonization of product standards, etc. As a common North American market we'd have the weight of the US economy behind us in trade negotiations with other countries.
On the military side we could deepen security cooperation by transitioning NORAD from the "North American Aerospace Defence Command" to a more comprehensive "North American Defence Command" with expanded RCN and CA coordination with the USN and US Army as well as active participation in Ballistic Missile Defence.
These two actions would resolve the concerns raised by PE Trump regarding security as well as cement our trade relations with the US without the need to become the 51st State.
As an additional twist, from what I've read Greenland is interested in voting for sovereignty from Denmark but the main sticking point is they can't afford economically to give up the subsidies from the Danish Government. What if instead of being purchased by the US, Greenland instead became the 4th Canadian territory? They are much closer geographically to Canada than Denmark and the population is almost 90% mixed Inuit ethnically so they likely have much more in common culturally with Canadian Arctic communities than with the typical Dane.
As a Canadian Territory Greenland would be part of the Canada/US Customs Union so would have barrier free trade with both countries which would likely lead to economic investment in their natural resource industries. PE Trump could see this as a win since he (the US) would reap the benefits of economic access to Greenland's resources at the same time as not having to administer the territory.
Trump has two main issues with Canada which lead to his "suggestion" that Canada become the 51st State...trade deficits and security issues.
What if we upped the ante and proposed a Customs Union with the United States combined with a joint external border policy...basically free flow of goods between Canada and the US with a common security perimeter around the two countries. Border resources could be re-deployed to focus on overseas points of entry to prevent illegal goods/bad actors from getting into Canada/US in the first place.
Information archivée dans le Web | Information Archived on the Web
publications.gc.ca
After September 11: a Canada-U.S. customs union
Canada should take advantage of increased U.S. interest in a common North American security perimeter by proposing a customs union.
policyoptions.irpp.org
We wouldn't have to go as far as the EU in integration and a common currency, but there would be definite economic benefits to harmonization of product standards, etc. As a common North American market we'd have the weight of the US economy behind us in trade negotiations with other countries.
On the military side we could deepen security cooperation by transitioning NORAD from the "North American Aerospace Defence Command" to a more comprehensive "North American Defence Command" with expanded RCN and CA coordination with the USN and US Army as well as active participation in Ballistic Missile Defence.
These two actions would resolve the concerns raised by PE Trump regarding security as well as cement our trade relations with the US without the need to become the 51st State.
As an additional twist, from what I've read Greenland is interested in voting for sovereignty from Denmark but the main sticking point is they can't afford economically to give up the subsidies from the Danish Government. What if instead of being purchased by the US, Greenland instead became the 4th Canadian territory? They are much closer geographically to Canada than Denmark and the population is almost 90% mixed Inuit ethnically so they likely have much more in common culturally with Canadian Arctic communities than with the typical Dane.
As a Canadian Territory Greenland would be part of the Canada/US Customs Union so would have barrier free trade with both countries which would likely lead to economic investment in their natural resource industries. PE Trump could see this as a win since he (the US) would reap the benefits of economic access to Greenland's resources at the same time as not having to administer the territory.