American Single Market

  

American single market
Policy of	Conference of American States
Official languages	English · French · Spanish · Portuguese · German
Demonym(s)	American
Type	Single market
Member states	25 CAS states  Alaska  Antigua and Barbuda  Astoria  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Brazil  Brazoria  Central America  Dominica  Greenland  Grenada  Guyana  Jamaica  Manitoba  Paraguay  Patagonia  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  São Leopoldo  Kingdom of Sierra  Superior  Suriname  United Provinces 3 (non-CAS) AFTA states  Antilles  Placentia  Trinidad and Tobago
Establishment	1 January 1979
Area
• Total	11,770,068 km2 (4,544,449 sq mi)
• CAS	11,678,900 km2 (4,509,200 sq mi)
Population
• 2022 estimate	648,200,000
• CAS 2022 estimate	601,700,000
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	KS$26.3 trillion
• Per capita	KS$41,537
Currency	Numerous Proposed: Amero (AMR)

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Member states (25)  Alaska  Antigua and Barbuda  Astoria  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Brazil  Brazoria  Central America  Dominica  Greenland  Grenada  Guyana  Jamaica  Manitoba  Paraguay  Patagonia  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  São Leopoldo  Kingdom of Sierra  Superior  Suriname  United Provinces Regional partners France Netherlands United Kingdom Candidate countries Antilles Cozumel Guam Northern Mariana Islands Placentia Trinidad and Tobago Kingdom of Sierra–Superior relations Astoria–Kingdom of Sierra relations Astoria–Superior relations Big Three Withdrawal from the Conference of American States
Treaties Treaty of Riverside (1959) Treaty of New Hamburg (1960) Treaty of Seattle (1966) Treaty of San Francisco (1968) Treaty of Portland (1978) Wagner Treaty (1983) Treaty of Grand Llano (2000) Treaty of St. Cloud (2007) Suspension and Punishment Agreement Withdrawal Agreement Treaty of Rio de Janeiro (2017) Opt-outs Treaties of accession TBD Treaties of succession TBD Other treaties Lincoln Agreement Abandoned treaties and agreements TBD
Executive American Secretariat Hauptsmann Secretariat Secretary-General: John Hauptsmann (IND) Deputy Secretary-General: Oscar Turray (LDA) Secretary College of Commissioners
Legislature Legislative procedure American Council President Manitoba Jean-Luc Michel (July–December 2022) American Parliament (Members) President: Sofia Muñoz Largest groups LDA (Jackie Nutalli) ACC (Joshua Garrett) SDA (Jared Lester) ADL (Benjamin Perseus) RGA (Sven Ludendorff) Member of the American Parliament 10th session (2020–2025) Speaker: Brian Woods (LDA) National parliaments
Judiciary Court of Justice of the Conference of American States Court of Justice Members Chief Justice: Robert Woodall Rulings
Auditory American Customs Authority Auditor General: Sharice Ryan Financial and Economic Cooperation Council COMAMERO
Lincoln Area  Alaska  Astoria  Brazoria  Greenland  Guyana  Jamaica  Manitoba  Kingdom of Sierra  Superior  Suriname Non-CAS members  Cozumel  Guam  Northern Mariana Islands Lincoln Agreement Common Area Act Agana Agreement Visa policy of the Lincoln Area Non-Lincoln Area states  United Provinces  Brazil  Central America  Paraguay  São Leopoldo Lincoln Area since 2020
Other bodies Agencies Council on Cooperative Space Exploration
Elections 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 2020 (last election) American political parties Constituencies Elections in CAS member states Alaska Argentina Brazil Brazoria Central America Chile Greenland Guyana Jamacia Manitoba Paraguay Patagonia São Leopoldo Kingdom of SIerra Superior Suriname Referendums relating to the CAS
Law Primacy Regulation Directive Decision Recommendation
Policies and issues Budget Customs Union Free Trade Agreements American Single Market Policies Agriculture Energy Fisheries Regional Citizenship Passports of the Conference of American States Identity American unionism Ameroskepticism Continentalism Integration Supranationalism Federalism North American Union Amero Enhanced co-op
Foreign relations Ambassador Jamaal Kings Foreign relations of CAS member states Alaska Astoria Brazil Brazoria Central America Greenland Guyana Jamacia Manitoba Paraguay Patagonia São Leopoldo Kingdom of Sierra Superior Suriname United Provinces Antilles–Conference of American States relations China–Conference of American States relations Conference of American States–France relations Conference of American States–Netherlands relations Conference of American States–Mexico relations (Mexit) Conference of American States–Placentia relations Conference of American States–United Commonwealth relations Conference of American States–United Kingdom relations Conference of American States–United People's Committees relations Conference of American States and the League of Nations G8 G20
Conference of American States portal Atlas

The American Single Market, Common Market, or Internal Market is a single market that includes 25 states that are part of the Conference of American States (CAS), three states that are part of the American Free Trade Association (AFTA), and a few others through bilateral comprehensive free trade agreements. The single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people, known collectively as the "four freedoms." This is achieved using a framework of laws an legislation that every country is required to implement and abide by, either as a CAS member state, AFTA member, or signer of a comprehensive free trade agreement with the CAS. The American Customs Authority is tasked with regulating CAS law related to the single market and making sure it is being followed, along with the American Court of Justice.

The Single Market began as individual agreements between the "Inner Four" countries that established the CAS (Astoria, Manitoba, Sierra, and Superior) to gradually remove barriers to trade and synchronize many of their regulations regarding trade. These early rules, which developed between 1966 and 1978, were formally codified by the Treaty of Portland, or the Mutual Trade Treaty, which came into force on 1 January 1979 and started the American Single Market as legal entity. The treaty also created the American Free Trade Association (AFTA) as a parallel for closely allied non-CAS members at the time, including Alaska, Greenland, Placentia, the Antilles, and the West Indies. Since it came into force in 1979, the Single Market has expanded to include 25 countries that have become members of the CAS and three countries that are currently signatories to AFTA.

A number of states that are not part of either the CAS or AFTA participate in a limited way in the single market, including the countries of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which are located in the Western Pacific Ocean but are potential candidates for membership in the CAS due to them their association with the Kingdom of Sierra. The two countries have both signed a Comprehensive Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement with the Conference of American States, allowing select sectors of their economies to participate in the American Single Market. France, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands are currently in talks to allow their overseas territories in the Americas to also be able to participate through their own CFTA agreements.

Before the CAS was formed, the single market had a precedent in the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which was established in 1887 in the United Commonwealth to regulate trade between states of the U.C. Eventually other countries near the United Commonwealth subjected themselves to ICC regulations to improve trade between themselves and the largest neighboring market. First only regulating railroad rates and ticket prices between U.C. states and other countries, the Commission's authority expanded gradually into other economic sectors. It was dissolved after the Continental Revolutionary War, but it was the first attempt at creating free trade between North American nations since the Anglo-American Wars of the 1860s.

The single market is meant to integrate member states' economies into a single economy, allowing them to specialize in certain economic sectors, allowing goods and capital to move to where they are most valued, and increasing overall efficiency and productivity of member state economies. The Sierran dollar and the American Currency Unit (ACU) are used often to denominate transactions across CAS member states, the latter being only an accounting currency that has no circulation, although the Commission on the Establishment of an American currency (COMAMERO) has introduced a plan in 2009 that calls for the implementation of a common currency for the entire bloc at the end of 2023 and completing the process by the start of 2025. The economic integration of the single market is an ongoing process that began in 1979 and has been continuing for decades in stages, and creating a common currency is seen as another step in that.

History

One of the central objectives of the Conference of American States (CAS) from its inception was to help achieve peace on in the Americas, in part through increased economic ties and trade. The American Customs Union was created in 1968 with this in mind, which began the gradual process of reducing barriers to trade, such as internal tariffs among the customs union members, and set up an external tariff. However, the Inner Four countries faced difficulties in agreeing to mutually remove trade barriers due to protectionist attitudes and an absence of a common legal structure to facilitate free trade once the customs union was set up. The American Single Market originated as a proposal in the early 1970s as a solution to this problem. A written proposal was submitted by the Manitoban prime minister, Nathan Goedeke-Williams, to create an internal market among CAS members states and identified issues that would need to be addressed formally. These were determined in more detail between 1975 and 1978, and the result became the basis for the Treaty of Portland, or the Mutual Trade Treaty, which point most of these issues had been resolved.

The Mutual Trade Treaty laid out positive and negative conditions for the Single Market, including prohibitions on imposing tariffs for member state goods, and synchronizing laws and legislation to prevent red tape from hindering trade. They also relied on the American Court of Justice's jurisprudence, which declared that member states were obliged to recognize goods which had been legally produced in another member state, unless the member state could justify the restriction by reference to a mandatory requirement. Harmonization would only be used to overcome barriers created by trade restrictions which survived the Portland Treaty.

The treaty came into effect on 1 January 1979.

Four Freedoms

The Mutual Trade Treaty of 1978 establishes that the purpose of the American Single Market are to facilitate the economic "Four Freedoms:"

• Free movement of goods
• Free movement of capital
• Freedom to establish and provide services
• Free movement of people

Goods

Main article: American Customs Union

People

Main article: Lincoln Area

Integration of non-CAS states

The 25 member states of the Conference are fully part of the American Single Market, while several others have been granted the right to participate in a more limited way, such as the members of the larger American Economic Area, through the American Free Trade Association (AFTA). There are several major fields where AFTA states are not bound by CAS laws, including the customs union, the fisheries and agriculture policies, foreign and defense policy, and the proposed monetary union. AFTA was originally seen as a "waiting room" for countries that were in the process of becoming members of the CAS, though currently two of its three members are not actively trying to join, the Antilles and Placentia. Trinidad and Tobago is the one AFTA member that is currently in the application process for CAS membership.

In addition to AFTA, there is some participation in the single market by other countries that signed individual comprehensive free trade area (CFTA) agreements.

See also

• Conference of American States law
• Conference preference

Attribution notices

• This page uses material from the Wikipedia page European single market, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).