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May 2000, No. 153
Last Updated: 04/13/2000

Binational Great Lakes Economy

Loula Merkel, David Oppedahl, William Testa

The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) of 1989, recast in 1994 to include Mexico, predictably strengthened the Great Lakes region’s binational integration. The region, comprising Ontario in Canada and Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the U.S., has long rivaled any binational region in the world in size, economic importance, and the degree of its integration. This Chicago Fed Letter reviews the region’s features and progress toward integration as a path to success in the emerging global economy.