Most of the US standard units these days are defined in terms of metric units. But lots of individual laws and regulations from the federal down to the state, county, and municipal level are still worded in terms of those US standard units. This means that ultimately the U.S. is already using the metric system in actual fact, while the US standard units are used in name only. For example, the U.S. Standard foot is common throughout the country to define the boundaries of real property (land), but since 1959 1 foot has been defined as equaling 0.3048 meter exactly. The US foot is set to be replaced soon with the international foot, similarly defined by the meter, when the National Geodetic Service finalizes it’s new datums and state plane coordinate systems.
Point is, the US is already using the metric system, with a heavy accent.
Most of the US standard units these days are defined in terms of metric units. But lots of individual laws and regulations from the federal down to the state, county, and municipal level are still worded in terms of those US standard units. This means that ultimately the U.S. is already using the metric system in actual fact, while the US standard units are used in name only. For example, the U.S. Standard foot is common throughout the country to define the boundaries of real property (land), but since 1959 1 foot has been defined as equaling 0.3048 meter exactly. The US foot is set to be replaced soon with the international foot, similarly defined by the meter, when the National Geodetic Service finalizes it’s new datums and state plane coordinate systems.
Point is, the US is already using the metric system, with a heavy accent.