Green Car Reports has posted an interesting bit of speculation about why Nissan was able to plop the Micra into the Canadian market with no apparent plans to so in the U.S.
They speculate that the work to "federalize" the car to North American standards was actually done by Smart, which had an agreement with Nissan to "rebadge" (and tart up) the Micra to sell as a larger Smart ForFour model alongside the Smart ForTwo.
Despite Smart having given up on that plan, the work was already done, so it was a relatively easy decision for Nissan to put the car on sale here. It was ready to go in terms of regulations.
This also means there's no reason the Micra couldn't also be sold in the U.S. It comes down to a marketing decision, not a regulatory one.
Full article: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...d-for-by-smart