# What would the US have to do to join the Commonwealth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667 "2005-02-24T08:33:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/41 "2005-02-27T22:56:22Z")
Did Mozambique have to do anything special? I think it joined the Commonwealth in the mid 1990s, even though, as an ex-Portuguese colony, it had no historical, social or legal ties to the UK/British Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/42 "2005-02-27T23:50:16Z")
don’t think so, presumably they hope to get some commercial or other advantage out of it. They will recognise the Queen as ‘Head of the Commonwealth’, but that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/43 "2005-02-28T04:39:49Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Wow … that sounds like a terrific plan; after all, groups of people who share a government would never go to war with one another. Now we just have to convince most of the world to be altruistic instead of selfish. Not necessarily. I doubt most Europeans have learned to be altruistic. Nevertheless, the Union seems to work. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/44 "2005-02-28T04:42:38Z")
> [@Mk VII](#): > > if the U.S. wanted to join the EU it would have to accept and implement, without quibble, the whole existing body of EU law and Directives. Why? This isn’t like admitting Bulgaria, or even Turkey or Russia. Admitting the U.S. would involve fundamentally redefining what the EU is and means. A total renegotiation would be in order. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/45 "2005-02-28T05:11:53Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Couldn’t we just conquer the UK and Canada? Or grind them into submission by cutting off their supply of jellied eels? 🙂 Oh, I think our hovercraft industry is hardier that _that_, Yank swine. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/46 "2005-02-28T10:02:38Z")
I can see no way that the USA could join the EU as it stands. It would invoilve re-writing the constitutions of both to such a degree that what wuld emerge would be something new. What the USA _could_ join is EFTA (European Free Trade Area), which isn’t a political entity - This is what Switzerland has done. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667/47 "2005-02-28T14:40:22Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > I can see no way that the USA could join the EU as it stands. It would invoilve re-writing the constitutions of both to such a degree that what wuld emerge would be something new. I don’t think so. A single amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be enough to specify that the EU Constitution trumps it to the extent of any conflict. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-us-have-to-do-to-join-the-commonwealth/291667.md?page=2)