Norteamericano includes Mexicans
US citizens have a tendency to use norteamericano(a) when referring to their citizenship.
Such is a "no-no" in Mexico; I've been corrected a few times when I used it.
That's because Mexico is in North America.
Best to use estadounidense.
If you can pronounce it...
10 Answers
I agree that everyone living in North America, Central America, and South America are all Americans. When I travel in Latin America I refer to myself as estadounidense. I also say that "Soy de los Estados Unidos". I think it is important to remember that there are more people living in America than those that inhabit the United States. 
Hmmm, pero si dices eso todo el mundo lo entiende como de Estados Unidos. Curioso , no me di cuenta.
En España nadie dice estadounidense, todos dicen simplemente americano, ya sé, no es políticamente correcto pero al menos es práctico y fácil de pronunciar
I don't understand why people say "america" and only refer to The United States of America. There is North American, South America...Any one in the "American" continents can be "american".
No, thank goodness, NAFTA does not include those countries in either Central America or South America!
It put two million Mexican farmers off their land and off to seek other work. They could not compete with cheaper tax-subsidized grains flooding in from the US and Canada.
I've witnessed this tragedy in mountain villages in Mexico and here in the States where I have met more than 800 poor Mexican farmers taking terrible risks to cross the border.
NAFTA has been devastating for the working class and the poor. (Not only in Mexico, but in the States as well.)
The beneficiaries of NAFTA are the usual villains: multi-national corporations, big investors, and big banks. (Mostly US.)
Valponecito, You opened an educational can of worms. I never knew Greenland was included in North America. As well as most of the others. I would have said Mexico, US and Canada until a few minutes ago. I wonder if the NAFTA treaty includes all those countries?
Daniel: North America includes Canada, the United States of America, Mexico, Greenland, the Caribbean islands, and the countries of Central America.
South American starts with Columbia.
And, yes, a quick peek at maps via Google does show some ambiguity in some maps. But not all, as you suggest.
I guess we've opened a new can of worms here
I usually just say "Soy de los Estados Unidos" and it's fine.
However, I made sure that I learned how to pronounce "estadounidense" too
And the irony is that those "Americas" were reputedly named after a non-native explorer: Amerigo Vespucci.
Maybe a contest should be held to choose an indigenous name?
I go to Mexico several times a year and always use: " Estados Unidos" and it is just fine.
Now the U.S. is a protion of North America. Maps (Atlas) all show the southern portion of Mexico as Central America (about half the Maps or Atlas show all of Mexico as a Central America.
Hope we get some native Mexicans to clarify this.
Another funny thing is to refer to ourselves as "de los Estados Unidos" because Mexico is also referred to as "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" the United Mexican States.
