PREMEDITATED MERGER

Inside the hush-hush North American Union confab
State Department talks open borders, EU links
------------------------------
Posted: March 13, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
(c) 2008 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON -- A largely unreported meeting held at the State Department
discussed integration of the U.S., Mexico and Canada in concert with a move
toward a transatlantic union, linking a North American community with the
European Union.

The meeting was held Monday under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on
International Economic
Policy<http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/othr/2007/88791.htm>,
or ACIEP. WND obtained press credentials and attended as an observer. The
meeting was held under "Chatham House"
rules<http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/about/chathamhouserule/>that
prohibit reporters from attributing specific comments to individual
participants.

*(Story continues below)*

The State Department website
noted<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/67659.htm>the meeting was
opened by Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy
and Business Affairs Daniel S. Sullivan and ACIEP Chairman Michael
Gadbaw<http://www.nbr.org/about_NBR/governance/bod/gadbaw.html>,
vice president and senior counsel for General Electric's International Law &
Policy group since December 1990.

WND observed about 25 ACIEP members, including U.S. corporations involved in
international trade, prominent U.S. business trade groups, law firms
involved with international business law, international investment firms and
other international trade consultants.

No members of Congress attended the meeting.

The agenda for the ACIEP meeting was not published, and State Department
officials in attendance could not give WND permission under Chatham House
rules to publish the agenda.

The meeting agenda included topics reviewing the Security and Prosperity
Partnership of North America <http://www.spp.gov/>, or SPP, and the
U.S.-EUTransatlantic Economic Council, or TEC.

The SPP, declared by the U.S., Canada and Mexico at a summit meeting in
2005, has 20 trilateral bureaucratic working groups that seek to "integrate
and harmonize" administrative rules and regulations on a continental basis.

Several participants said the premise of the SPP is to create a North
American business platform to benefit North America-based multi-national
companies the way the European Union benefits its own.

Others noted the premise of the TEC is to create a convergence of
administrative rules and regulations between Europe and North America,
anticipating the creation of a "Transatlantic Economic Union" between the
European Union and North America.

Participants pointed out that transatlantic trade is currently 40 percent of
all world trade. They argue that trade and non-trade barriers need to be
further reduced to maintain that market share as a framework is put in place
to advance transatlantic economic integration.

Still, some participants argued that many corporations in North America
already have moved beyond a North American focus to adopt a global
perspective that transcends even the Transatlantic market.

"Supply chains and markets are everywhere," one participant asserted.
"What's to stop global corporations from going after the cheapest labor
available globally, wherever they can find it, provided the cost of
transporting goods globally can be managed economically?"

Other participants argued regional alliances were still important, if only
to put in place the institutional bases that ultimately would lead to global
governance on uniform global administrative regulations favorable to
multi-national corporations.

"North America should be a premiere platform to establish continental
institutions," a participant said. "That's why we need to move the security
perimeters to include the whole continent, especially as we open the borders
between North American countries for expanding free trade."

One presentation on the agenda identified four reasons why administrative
rules and regulations need to be integrated by SPP in North America and by
the Transatlantic Economic Council, bridging together European Union and
North American markets:
Standardization – to keep prices low and productivity high;

Investment – for every $1 traded, $4 is invested; right now 75 percent of
investment in the U.S. comes from the EU, and 52 percent of the investment
in the EU comes from the U.S.;

Productivity Improvements – to lower production costs and stimulate trade;
and

Open Borders – to facilitate the free movement of labor to markets where
employment opportunities are available.

The discussion pointed out the SPP trilateral working groups and the
Transatlantic Economic Council were being supported by top-level Cabinet
officers and the heads of state in both the EU and in North America.

Progress in EU-U.S. regulatory integration was noted in financial market
coordination, investment rule cohesion, trade security measures and efforts
undertaken recently to preserve intellectual property rights.

Before the meeting began, concerns were raised informally by participants
worried that the Ohio Democratic Party primary had prompted both Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton to talk of renegotiating NAFTA.

Participants at the State Department meeting pointed out U.S. political
candidates could be expected to argue "protectionist themes opposed to
global economic integration" as a tactic, without necessarily being
committed to taking aggressive steps once in office.

"The political dialogue misses the point of economic reality," one
participant argued. "There is a J-curve correlation between when a currency
like the U.S. dollar depreciates and when exports kick in to increase. We
should accelerate the J-curve and our discussion about it, to help the local
politics catch up with the international reality."

Part of the discussion was devoted to concerns that national regulators in
North America and Europe were too reluctant to abandon provincial regulatory
advantages.

"Regulators by nature are advocates, and they are hard to move," one
participant grumbled. "What we need is more diplomats and negotiators to
identify solutions, otherwise the bureaucrats will bog down the progress we
need to see coming out of the SPP and TEC."

"North America is already an integrated continental economy and a
continental-wide business platform," another said. "What we need now is more
regulatory convergence. 'Harmonized' should mean that once approved, the
same set of administrative regulations and procedures ought to be ready
throughout NAFTA, SPP and the TEC."

As WND previously
reported<http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55584>,
the Transatlantic Economic
Council<http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rt/eu/c24544.htm>,
or TEC, was created by President Bush at an April 30 summit meeting at the
White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the current president of
the European Council, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

WND also reported<http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?
ARTICLE_ID=59713>the
Transatlantic Policy Network, a non-governmental organization
headquartered in Washington and Brussels and advised by a bi-partisan
congressional policy group chaired by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, has
called for the creation of a Transatlantic Common Market between the U.S.
and the European Union by 2015.

A complete membership list of the current 60-person Advisory Committee on
International Policy is published on the State Department
website<http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/adcom/85129.htm>
.

ACIEP members include corporate officers from General Electric, Exxon Mobil,
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Archer Daniels Midland, United Parcel Service,
Citibank, Proctor & Gamble, Hunt Oil, CMS Energy, Boeing, 3M, Goldman Sachs
and Cargill.

The most recent "Summary of Discussions" published on the Department of
State website <http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/othr/2007/99658.htm> was for
the Dec. 18 ACIEP meeting.

A published article on the State Department
website<http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/adcom/c666.htm>includes photographs
of the Dec. 18 ACIEP meeting, listing by name several
participants who were photographed in attendance.

--
STOP SPP is a non-partisan group of citizens concerned over ...
the creation of the NORTH AMERICAN UNION.
This will dismantle USA as we know it today.
Website: STOPSPP.ORG