The last planks of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement were fully implemented on January 1, meaning that the continent's producers can now sell to a market of 425 million consumers. Then there are U.S. sugar growers, who are already reacting to this new era of competition by scheming to carve out a new continent-wide cartel.

For decades American sugar producers have prospered from a government-guaranteed price. To keep this from bankrupting Uncle Sam, Washington has controlled supplies with import quotas and allotments...