Border security chills trade relations
from imposing controversial new border taxes and inspections on trucks and railway cars. Also, this spring, talks collapsed on a pilot project to conduct customs inspections well before the border, following a dispute over whether U.S. authorities could fingerprint individuals on Canadian soil. Emerson said the 2004 Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement — which is supposed to deepen economic relations between Canada and the United States by removing irritants — has helped a bit. “But as long as the … [U.S.] bureaucracy is out there creating new problems almost monthly, you’ve got to stop the overall erosion,” he said.
David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, is far more optimistic about the state of bilateral trade relations and suggested security problems are being ironed out. “I think the headlines should be reading: ‘U.S. and Canada trade $1.6-billion of trade and commerce today without any security incidents.’ We don’t talk about the good news,” Wilkins said.
Here is a brief summary of Canada’s list of grievances. Note that the list contains grievances from 2007 only (the list is much longer if you go back to 2002), and that it expresses the Canadian view of things:
* March 2007: Less than six months after a softwood lumber truce is signed by Canada and the United States, Washington disrupts the peace by formally complaining over allegedly unfair conduct by Ottawa and the Canadian provinces, launching arbitration that could impose more costs on this country’s timber producers.
* April 2007: Talks collapse between Washington and Ottawa on a pilot project to conduct customs inspections well before reaching the border, following a dispute over whether U.S. authorities could fingerprint individuals on Canadian soil even if they didn’t cross the border.
* June 2007: Washington plows ahead with controversial new border taxes and inspections for trucks and railway cars from Canada — part of a rash of new levies that will extract more than US$75 million a year.
* June 2007: A Conference Board of Canada report says the harsh security crackdown at the Canada-U.S. border since 9/11 has forced exporters in key industries to abandon just-in-time delivery and return to the outdated practice of stockpiling goods.
* Summer 2007: Border crossing wait times worsen, according to some observers. Stan Korosec, vice-president of operations of the Blue Water Bridge, which links Sarnia, Ontario, and Port Huron, Michigan, calls 2007 the “summer from hell,” saying he saw some of the longest waits since 2001, adding that U.S. border guards are asking more questions and sending more trucks to secondary inspection.
* November 2007: Antiterror security measures put in place by the U.S. and Canadian governments since 9/11 have burdened Canada’s transportation industry with up to half-a-billion dollars in extra costs, a Transport Canada report says.
