The North American Union (NAU) is a theoretical regional union of Canada, Mexico and the United States similar in structure to the European Union, sometimes including a common currency called the Amero. Officials from all three nations have said there are no government plans to create such a union.[1] The formation of a North American Union has been the subject of various conspiracy theories.[2][3][4][5]

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Since at least the mid-19th century, numerous concepts for a continental union between Canada, Mexico and the United States, often including Caribbean, Central American and South American countries, have been proposed, such as the North American Technate and the Free Trade Area of the Americas. In contrast, details of the North American Union concept emerged not from proponents, but from critics of the idea.[6]

These details emerged when critics identified what they perceived to be the true goals of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). When the SPP was founded by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States in March 2005, some critics claimed it was an attempt to dramatically alter the economic and political status quo between the countries outside of the scrutiny of the respective national legislatures, a critique heightened by the subsequent publication in May 2005 by the Independent Task Force on North America of a report which praised the SPP initiative and called for greater economic integration by 2010.[2] [3].

While a broad spectrum of observers criticize the secrecy of the SPP and its dominance by business groups,[7] the specific claim that its true aim was to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into a North American Union analogous to the European Union (EU), with open borders and a common currency among other features, was being made by the fall of 2006, when right-wing commentators Phyllis Schlafly, Jerome Corsi and Howard Phillips started a website dedicated to quashing what they perceived as the coming North American "Socialist mega-state."[4]

These critics claim the actual goals of the SPP were confirmed by the Task Force, [5][6] and by the Task Forces co-chair American University professor Robert Pastor. [7] Critics often cite Pastor as being the father[8] of the NAU [9][10] and his 2001 book "Towards a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New" has been called a blueprint[11] for the plan, and includes a suggestion to adopt a common North American currency called the amero.[12][8]

The SPP was described by the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States as being designed to provide greater cooperation on security and economic issues[13], while the Task Force recommended the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter."[14] All three governments deny that there are plans to implement a NAU via the SPP, and the Task Force report said that a North American Community, which would be similar to the European Community which preceded the EU, should not rely on "grand schemes of confederation or union" nor did it suggest a regional government or a common currency. The Task Forces recommendations included developing a North American customs union, common market, investment fund, energy strategy, set of regulatory standards, security perimeter, border pass, and advisory council, among other common goals.

While the SPP was an initiative carried out at the highest levels of government of the three countries in question, the Task Force was an independent project with no government affiliation organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (U.S.), the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

Nevertheless, the belief that a North American Union is currently being planned and implemented in secret has become widespread, so much so that the NAU has become a topic of debate during the 2008 American presidential campaigns and the subject of various U.S. Congressional resolutions[15][16] designed to thwart its implementation. Prominent critics such as CNNs Lou Dobbs[9] and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul[17] denounced the concept, joined by left-wing groups in Canada[18], internet blogs, and widely viewed videos and films such as Zeitgeist. Corsis 2007 book The Late Great USA: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada also helped bring the NAU discussion into the mainstream. Others who dismiss these beliefs maintain they are the latest example of a long line of misguided conspiracy theories which suggest the United States sovereignty is being eroded by a secret cabal of foreign and domestic players.[19][20]

Some of these NAU skeptics, while expressing concern about the lack of transparency of the SPP, note that this is not evidence of a plot to create a North American Union. The idea of a regional union that effaces U.S. sovereignty is light-years away from George W. Bush's foreign policy of unilateral action and disdain for international law and institutions. [21]

Of the three leaders at the 2005 founding of the SPP (American president George W. Bush, Canadian prime minister Paul Martin and Mexican president Vicente Fox), and the two subsequent leaders (Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and Mexican president Felipe Calderon), only Fox has voiced support for the ultimate goal of an entity like the North American Union. Before the SPP and since, he has noted the success countries like Ireland and Spain have had in modernizing their economies and bringing higher standards of living for their citizens by joining what is now the European Union and has expressed the hope that Mexico could have a similar experience in a trade body of comparable scope in North America.[22] [23] However, he has also expressed frustration with the lack of progress towards that goal as issues such as immigration reform proved to be contentious within the United States.[24] Various positive comments about a North American Union concept and an eventual common currency for the Americas by Vicente Fox, in particular some made during a promotional tour for a book in 2007, have been cited by critics as evidence that the body is in fact being enacted or planned.[25]

However, the three current leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States have all characterized the goals of the SPP as being far more modest than the goals Vicente Fox has expressed and what critics have alleged is actually being contemplated.[26]

Concepts of a North American Union share a number of common elements between them. NASCO and the SPP have both denied that there are any plans to establish a common currency, a "NAFTA Superhighway", or a North American Union in "Myths vs Facts" pages on their websites.[10][11]

The amero is the appellation given to what would be the North American Union's counterpart to the euro. It was first proposed in 1999 by Canadian economist Herbert G. Grubel.[5] A senior fellow of the