A New Canada-U.S. Border Fee? Prospect of a New U.S. Fee Worries Both Sides of the Border

Will the United States slap travelers with a new fee when crossing the Canada-U.S. border?

The White House's proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget includes boilerplate directing DHS to study the "feasibility" of imposing a new Northern and Southwest cross border fee.

Beyond the Border Observer, a blog from the Woodrow Wilson Center's Canada Institute, provides some useful background and roundup of critical responses in Canada and the United States. 

TPP Backup Plan? Zoellick, Looking to NAFTA's Success, Pushes an Americas U.S. Trade Agenda for the United State

Zoellick to policy-makers:  "North America can become a new raising power" if the U.S. adopts the right trade approach.  

Former World Bank President Robert Zoellick (and, most recently, head Mitt Romney's national security transition team) pushes an Americas trading block to secure America’s future economic growth, looking to build on the extensive ties between the United States, Canada, and Mexico as a starting block to push closer U.S. trade ties to Brazil.

Could this be Zoellick pushing a back-up plan for the White House should Trans-Pacific Partnership talks falter or delay?

And, before we delve into a condensed summary of the op-ed, could Zoellick's "Americas trade vision" be merged with the in-sourcing phenomenon reported so superbly in Charles Fishman's Atlantic article The Insourcing Boom?

From Zoellick's WaPo editorial:

This is an excellent time to deepen ties. The NAFTA countries should invest in a North American community that would make each stronger at home and around the world. For the United States, a more prosperous, growing, populous, integrated, energy-secure and democratic continental base would enhance private-sector possibilities and national power.

…

North America should work to better connect the trade, sourcing and supply chains in the Americas — and act with hemispheric partners on the next generation of development issues: investment, infrastructure, education, energy, the environment, service sectors, business facilitation, or even democracy and security. 

These Latin American partners can also help shape ideas around the world during a time of great fluidity. Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico — all U.S. FTA partners—have created a new Pacific group that is advancing policies for open economies. They can be U.S. friends in a changing Asia-Pacific system, too.

U.S. ties with Brazil are not part of this FTA framework. Yet the current governors of Brazil’s states seem inclined to pursue more interests with the United States, including on energy, inclusive development and democracy. By combining activities with Brazil and partnerships across the hemisphere, the United States could set the stage for economic and security ties among all American democracies.

As the president looks west across the Pacific and is pulled to the Mideast, he also needs a fresh north-south vision. North America can become a new rising power. And the foundation of the future global system can be “Made in the Americas.”