| In 1989, Canada and the US agreed to open their borders to the increased movement of goods and people between the two nations. The Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUSTA) was expected to result in the removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in most industries, thereby reducing the protective economic role that the international boundary once provided to domestic industries. Nowhere were the effects of these changes felt more than in the Canadian-American borderlands, where reoriented north-south trade flows put pressure on existing infrastructure and created tensions among competing cross-border producers. At the same time, free trade also allowed for greater opportunities in collaboration and integration among specific industries.; Post-CUSTA borderland studies have usually been conducted within a regional context, but with little direct attention paid to the fall-out of free trade on specific economic activities. In this thesis, I argue that the 'border effects' of the international boundary are industry and time-dependent. In some cases the boundary poses little or no deterrent to economic integration, while in others, it has continued to protect regional industries.; Using the Grasslands cross-border region of Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and Montana as a case study area, I illustrate the differential effects that the international boundary has on the agriculture (grains and cattle), energy, tourism, and retail sectors. I draw several conclusions from this research. First, the boundary's effect on the grains sector is subject to 'boom and bust' economic forces; in short, when times are good, the border is less of an impediment to trade. Second, the borders effect on more corporate activities, such as energy production, is a product of inadequate infrastructure development and different subnational and national regulations. Third, I demonstrate that subnational boundaries are as important as the international boundary in determining cross-border economic development and collaboration. Of the four states and provinces in the Grasslands, not all have been equally willing or able to participate in larger cross-border initiatives, such as transportation development. |
