Hemispheric Trade and Economic Integration After NAFTA: Proceedings of the Indianapolis Summit

Randall White is the author of Voice of Region: On the Long Journey to
Senate Reform in Canada and Global Spin: Probing the Globalization
Debate.

This volume presents the proceedings of the Indianapolis Summit, a
gathering of international trade experts, businesspeople, journalists,
politicians, and public officials co-sponsored by the Fraser Institute
in Canada and the Hudson Institute in the United States. Held just days
before the more newsworthy December 1994 summit of Western Hemisphere
political leaders in Miami, Florida, the Indianapolis Summit was
intended “to draw attention to and build support for the continuing
process of hemispheric economic integration” in the immediate wake of
the North American Free Trade Agreement.

While the Miami summit itself did make some bold commitments to the
cause, the subsequent pace of events has been much slower than the
organizers of the gathering at Indianapolis no doubt hoped for.
Mexico’s currency problems in late 1994 and early 1995 are part of the
story. As the first piece in this volume also notes, “Congressional
opposition [in the United States] to free trade has been growing over
the past few years.” By the end of 1996, Canada and Chile had signed
their own trade agreement without the participation of either Mexico or
the United States. Even the U.S. business press was stressing that
extending NAFTA to the rest of “the Americas” was no longer high on
anyone’s agenda in Washington.

For those still interested in hemispheric economic integration, many of
its underlying problems are dealt with in the 23 contributions that make
up this volume. The Globe and Mail’s Peter Cook, one of four Canadian
contributors, somewhat inadvertently makes the point that Canada has an
inherent long-term interest in any trade agreement with the United
States that includes other partners as well. This useful reference book
is not for the uninitiated.