Toward Construction of an Association among the Countries of North America

The essay studies one of the main foreign policy initiatives of president Ernesto Zedillo’s administration: the construction of an association among the countries of North America that goes beyond trade connections. This proposal starts from the fact that the economies and societies of Canada, the United States and Mexico have become increasingly interdependent and, therefore, it is best to actively support the already existing forms of trilateral cooperation and open up new, complementary spaces for cooperation. The association of the North American countries initiative appeared in 1998. Since then, trilateral meetings have been held, both in terms of ad hoc gatherings of the ministers and secretaries of state of the three countries and within the framework of conferences of multilateral bodies. The author examines some of the important steps that have been taken to legitimate and make the idea of a trilateral arrangement viable: the 1999 Framework Declaration and the Memorandum on international development cooperation, among others. The author concludes that, although it is premature to judge the consolidation of a trilateral North American association, there is already progress, with the potential to consolidate a wider, more far-reaching plan in the future.