US and Canada agree to share troops

From the US Northern Command’s website:

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Canadian Air Force Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command, have signed a Civil Assistance Plan that allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

While this agreement is a sign of things to come, it shouldn’t be seen as foreshadowing the tripartite merger of the US, Canada, and Mexico.

I do not see any possibility of a ‘North American Union’ in our future. However, the advancement of cooperation between the United States, Canada, and Mexico does lead me to believe that some type of NAFTA plus agreement is likely in the near term. Plus meaning immersion beyond free trade, in this case, military interoperability.

One needn’t look much further than the Security and Prosperity Partnership to realize that North American trilateral relations are converging. This doesn’t imply that we will emerge as an EU-lite though. It does mean that we will see the North American zone evolve into a much more cohesive bloc in years to come.