Pre-Clear Border Shipping

(National Post – Michael Hart)

For nearly a century, Canadian and American officials have worked together to reduce the divide created by their common border. Until 9/11, their efforts were crowned with increasing success; after 9/11, security concerns thickened the border and undermined the benefits that Canadians and Americans had come to expect from what Sir Winston Churchill once characterized as the world’s longest undefended border.

This downward spiral need not, and should not, continue. Modern technology allows the two governments to return to the successful trajectory of the past by pre-clearing as many people and goods as possible before they arrive at the physical border. Clearance at the physical border limits the amount of information and time required for inspectors to make informed decisions about risk and compliance. Satisfying all clearance requirements at the border can also delay travellers and shippers, lead to traffic congestion, add to the cost of doing business across the border, and chill discretionary trade, investment and travel.

A well-functioning border is critical to commerce in the integrated North American economy. The days are long gone when the norm was a carrier crossing the border loaded with finished products destined for retail shelves. Today, that carrier is usually part of a time-sensitive supply chain, loaded with inputs and components destined for further operations in the other country. The hidden tax of new data and of processing requirements adds significantly to production costs, undermining the competitiveness of North American producers, particularly those whose products cross the border several times during production.

Pre-clearance will offer such users a system that is more cost-effective than one that relies almost exclusively on inspection and verification at the physical border. It will also provide border officials with more reliable and timely information to make prudent risk assessments. Read more here.

Passenger Train Between U.S., Vancouver Could Halt Over Customs Fee

(The Canadian Press)

A passenger train running between Portland, Ore., and Vancouver could be cancelled because the Canadian government wants $550,000 a year for extra customs services.

Paula Hammond, transportation secretary for Washington state, said Ottawa wants her department to pay the fee to cover additional border staffing for the evening Amtrak Cascades train.

That doesn't make sense, she said, because that second daily train has brought nearly $12 million in economic benefits to British Columbia in the year it's been operating. Read more here.

eManifest – Making the Border Smarter & More Secure

(CBSA)

After several years of planning and significant consultations, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is set to launch eManifest – one of the Agency’s largest undertakings to strengthen our nation’s security and at the same time modernize and improve commercial border processes.

When fully implemented, eManifest will require all commercial import trade partners (carriers, freight forwarders and importers) in all modes of transportation (air, marine, highway and rail) to electronically submit advance trade data to the CBSA for risk assessment purposes.

By risk assessing pre-arrival information, health, safety and security threats related to commercial shipments can be identified before the goods arrive in Canada. The CBSA can then focus its resources on those people, goods and conveyances posing the greatest risk to the security and prosperity of Canada.

eManifest will result in an improved commercial process that rewards compliance with predictable and expedited processing at the border. …

The complete article covers:

• Advance trade data requirements
• Before the border
• Implementation timeline
• Key implementation dates
• Early adopters
• Client support
• Technical support unit

For the most up-to-date information on eManifest, visit the eManifest section of the CBSA’s Web site regularly or subscribe to the CBSA RSS news feed.

What We're Doing to Secure the Border

(Alan D. Bersin/John Morton — Wall Street Journal)

Last year, illegal crossings in the Southwest were down 23%, to a fraction of their all-time high

Yesterday, after months of heated rhetoric and debate about Arizona's controversial new immigration law, federal Judge Susan Bolton blocked most of SB 1070 from taking effect. The move served as an important affirmation of the federal government's responsibility in enforcing our nation's immigration laws. But regardless of what happened with this case, this administration will continue to enforce the law, just as we have been doing for the past 18 months: with unprecedented resources and a clear commitment to serious, smart and effective enforcement that has yielded important results.

We are career prosecutors who lead the two main border and immigration enforcement agencies in the United States—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). We know the paramount importance of enforcing the law and we understand the federal government's responsibilities. And what we have seen on the border, at workplaces, and in communities across America in the past 18 months represents the most serious approach to enforcement we have witnessed in our careers.

Read the complete editorial here.

Bridge Claims Progress in Bid to Build Twin Span

(Dave Battagello — The Windsor Star)

A consultant's report that illustrates how Canada customs can accommodate secondary truck inspection at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge on Windsor's west end advances the bridge's plans to build a twin span, according to the son of owner Matty Moroun.

Canada Border Services Agency retained the consultant about six months ago to develop a master plan after repeated requests by the agency for Moroun to undertake the effort as part of an environmental assessment were ignored.

With the report recently completed, the bridge company has claimed the information is sufficient to get a permit on the twin span on the Canadian side. A condition of future approval includes Moroun being able to move CBSA secondary truck inspection back to the foot of the bridge in Windsor. Read more here.

At Canadian Border, a Bridge to Prosperity

(Jeff Bennett — Wall Street Journal)

Billionaire Businessman Is Expected to Win Key Permit Allowing Him to Build a New Private Toll Span Between Detroit and Ontario

Billionaire businessman Manuel “Matty” Moroun is poised to move a step closer to tightening his control of traffic across the Detroit River, one of the continent’s busiest and most economically vital border crossings.

Mr. Moroun, whose Detroit International Bridge Co. owns the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is expected this week to win approval from Canadian customs authorities for a key part of his plan to build a second span over the same stretch of water. By contrast, plans for a competing, publicly owned bridge have stalled amid concerns over the potential cost to taxpayers.

At stake are tens of millions of dollars of annual toll revenue and a critical link in the U.S. auto industry’s supply chain.

Customs authorities’ go-ahead for a new bridge plaza to be developed by Mr. Moroun—including toll booths and customs-inspection buildings—would all but clear the way for his company to seek a final environmental permit from the Canadian transportation department to build the new six-lane bridge, adjacent to the existing one. The permit is one of the few regulatory hurdles remaining before construction can begin. Read more here.

The Border Can’t be Allowed to Close Again

(Sandra Pupatello — Embassy)

It is impossible to overstate the importance of our common border with the United States.

Having grown up in Windsor, not far from the busiest crossing in Canada, I have seen with my own eyes the astounding number of trucks that use the Ambassador Bridge every hour of every day.

Frequently, there’s a wall of trucks several kilometres long waiting to get through customs. Read more here (subscription required).

New Customs Commissioner Speaks on Trade Facilitation, Transparency

(World Trade Interactive)

In a May 13 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Customs Commissioner Alan Bersin said he will work to further facilitate legitimate international trade and improve consultations with public and private stakeholders. Bersin was recess appointed by President Obama in March, meaning that unless he is confirmed by the Senate he will be required to step down as commissioner at the end of 2011.

Bersin said he supports U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s post-9/11 missions of guarding U.S. borders against “dangerous people and dangerous things” while making it easier for legitimate trade and travel to enter and exit the country. While he called homeland security CBP’s “first responsibility,” he also recognized trade community concerns that CBP has not given sufficient priority to its trade facilitation mission. In response, he expressed his intent to “focus on expediting secure trade and travel so that commerce flows faster, the cost of doing business diminishes, our country remains competitive in an era of economic globalization, and our economic recovery is sustainable over the long run.”

Bersin also discussed longstanding concerns regarding “the cumulative cost of government decisions on the trade community, and the lack of consultation and transparency in [CBP’s] decision making process.” Having asked the trade community to “assume its fair share of the burden” by exercising reasonable care, providing more transaction-related information and investing in the resources necessary to keep up with current requirements, he said, CBP in turn should “strive continually to provide an environment built upon predictability, transparency, and uniformity in the importing process.” In addition, the agency needs to “weigh the cumulative costs of our decisions on business and, when possible, provide for simplified commercial processing.”

Read more here.

Businesses Push for U.S.-Canadian Procurement Pact

(Journal of Commerce Online – William B. Cassidy)

Executives from both sides of border visit Capitol Hill to promote agreement

Cross-border trade with Canada isn’t just about sales and profit, it’s about millions of jobs, U.S. and Canadian business executives told members of Congress this week. U.S. trade with Canada supports 8 million jobs in the United States alone, the executives said, a number that resonates on Capitol Hill when U.S. unemployment is stuck near 10%. […]

“We need to increase awareness of how matters now before Congress can affect jobs in the U.S.,” Canadian Ambassador to the United States Gary Doer said May 12. “We are the most reliable supplier of energy to the U.S., the biggest supplier of oil to the U.S., and we’re the biggest customer you’ve got,” Doer said.

A study released by the Canadian government found that the number of U.S. jobs supported by trade with Canada increased from 5.2 million in 2001 to 8 million. Total cross-border trade has been increasing at an annual rate of 7.8%, the study said. Read more here.

P&G Exec Seeks Thinner U.S.-Canada Border

(Journal of Commerce Online – William B. Cassidy)

U.S., Canada should follow ‘single market’ strategy in trade, says Healey

The United States and Canada need to emulate businesses pursuing a “single market” strategy for trade and security, a top Procter & Gamble executive says.

Friction over security and trade policy threatens the economic recovery and the competitiveness of both nations, said Melanie Healey, group president for North America at Procter & Gamble.

“Heightened security has led to a thickening border” since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Healey said Wednesday at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.

“With 40,000 truckloads of P&G goods crossing the border every year, we’re concerned about this,” she said. Two- to four-hour backups at the border cost P&G roughly 80,000 to 160,000 hours each year, Healey said. That equals about nine to 18 years of delay. Read more here.

Border to Run Smoother, Predicts Customs Czar’s Right Hand

(Today’s Trucking)

Within the next 15 years, many of your trucks should be able to zip through Canada-U.S. border crossings without stopping. That’s the prediction of one of America’s most influential customs officials, Thomas Winkowski, who bears the weighty title “Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Essentially, he’s second in command when it comes to customs and he was addressing a Customs-and-Trade-Compliance conference in Toronto when he made the prediction, in response to a question from the floor.

“In the next 10 to 15 years, the border’s going to be completely different,” he said. “It isn’t going to be a border where everything has to stop. It’s all going to be electronic.”

Winkowski said that new customs-clearance protocols, when they’re completely in place, will mean that any carrier crossing the border will have to be “a trusted partner” of CBP, as will the shippers and manufacturers and drivers. All data about all parties will be available online, so there will be no need for drivers to stop and identify themselves or explain their loads.

Of course in order to reach that goal, he said, the program must have buy-in from all the government agencies involved in all three countries, U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Read more here.

Canada, U.S. Need Unified Border Security Strategy: Fraser Institute

(Montreal Gazette – Eric Lam, Financial Post)

While relations between Canada and the United States have been strained in recent years, it is in the best interests of both countries to set aside their differences and come up with a unified strategy on border security, the Fraser Institute said Thursday. Alexander Moens, a researcher with the Fraser Institute, warned in a report that a variety of factors including protectionism, border security concerns, and environmental issues have all restricted trade growth between the two countries since 9/11.

"Gaining unimpeded access to the U.S. market for Canadian exports and imports remains Canada's top economic interest," Mr. Moens said in the report. "A security deal between the two countries would make Americans more receptive to increased trade, investment, and tourism in Canada."

On Tuesday, Statistics Canada reported that for the first time, countries other than the United States accounted for a quarter of Canada's exports in 2009. Trade with the United States (exports and imports) accounted for only 63% of Canada's totals last year, compared with 71.1% in 2005. By contrast, exports to China have grown 55% in the past five years.

Read more here and/or the Fraser Institute press release (with links to the report itself) here.

Burney Promotes U.S.-Canada Border Commission

(Alison Crawford — CBC News)

While they've dubbed the event non-partisan, the [Liberal] party's goal in holding the conference is to harvest good ideas for future policy development. In that non-partisan spirit, one of today's speakers was former Canadian Ambassador to the United States Derek Burney. He headed Prime Minister Stephen Harper's transition team after the party's 2006 election win.

Among Burney's suggestions was that the Canadian government propose the establishment of a binational border commission, a body empowered to do the following: Streamline customs and entry provisions to eliminate protectionist measures, rationalize the hundreds if not thousands of needlessly different standards and regulations for items that flow across the border, harmonize immigration and refugee policies, establish a common tariff regime to reduce inefficient rule of origin provisions that are currently doing serious harm to Canada's livestock farmers and, finally, intensify the collaboration of our police to address the security, organized crime and illicit drug traffic issues that straddle the border.

Burney made sure to underline that this should be a binational effort, not trinational. The former ambassador says the problems the Americans are facing on its border with Mexico must not drive border policy with Canada. Read more here.

Canada-U.S. Border Crossing Faster Than Before 9/11: Ambassador

(Toronto Star – Susan Delacourt)

Security may be tighter, but getting across the Canada-U.S. border today is faster than it was before the terrorist strikes of 2001, U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says.

Jacobson, in his first major public remarks on Canada-U.S. border concerns, told an Ottawa audience Tuesday that for all the worries about “thickening” of the border between the two countries, the reality is that things are getting better. “We’re already making progress. Border wait times today are, on the average, less than they were prior to Sept. 11,” Jacobson told a sold-out crowd of politicos, lobbyists and business people at the Chateau Laurier. “In fact, since 2007, average border wait times for passengers have been cut by almost a third and during that same period of time for goods, wait times have been cut in half.”

This progress has come despite concerns about all the extra security measures and passport requirements, Jacobson noted, as well as a perceived rise in U.S. protectionism since the economic crash of 2008. Some Canada-U.S. experts have suggested that wait times are down because overall trade traffic is also on the decline since the downturn. Read more here.

Other Government Departments and Agencies: Reference List

(CBSA)

Many government departments and agencies are involved in the importation of goods into Canada. CBSA published a reference list of the most commonly imported commodities that may require permits and/or certificates from other government departments or agencies.

The list is available here.

Border Commercial Consultative Committee (BCCC)

(CBSA)

Record of Meeting September 29 and 30, 2009

Action items and summaries of various issues affecting customs commercial operations at the border.

Can Have Both Border Trade, Security: Jacobson

(Embassy – Angelo Persichilli)

The new American ambassador to Ottawa, David Jacobson, is touring Canada because he wants “to learn as much as I can” about the country. A few days ago he was in Niagara Falls, visiting the customs facilities on both sides of the border. He was jovial, spontaneous and very open to talk about the relationship between Canada and the United States. He believes in the ability and the will of both governments to combine the need for business and the duty to provide security, and he is not concerned about the “irritants” between the two countries.

Embassy interviewed Mr. Jacobson while he was crossing the border after the visit on the U.S. side and coming over to Canada. An edited transcript of that interview can be read Read more here.

Q&A with Ambassador Gary Doer

(Canadian Business Online – Bryan Borzykowski)

Now that Gary Doer’s reign as Manitoba’s premier has come to an end, he can focus on his new gig – Canadian ambassador to the United States. Don’t think this is Doer’s way to settle into retirement, he’ll have to advance this country’s interests in a place that’s more focused on difficult domestic issues and wars abroad, than what its northern neighbours have to say. In this exclusive Q&A interview with Canadian Business Online, Doer talks about the Buy American clause, climate change and what he’ll miss most about Manitoba.

One of the most important cross-border issues facing Canadian businesses right now is the Buy American clause. How are you going to deal with that provision?

I’m only the designate – I’m not in the job yet. But what to I bring to the job in this respect? I have been engaged in this with all the premiers. I was with the prime minister in Quebec City with Premier Charest and Governor Jim Douglas a few months ago. We discussed this issue and the premiers got an agreement – we all came to the table on issue of principal reciprocity with U.S. states. But the prime minister raised the issue again with the president (recently). As ambassador I’ll be able to continue on the message as it’s given by the prime minister, the minister of trade and the minister of foreign affairs. It’s the job of ambassador to make sure the message is repeated and mutual opportunities continue to be repeated over and over again.

You have been outspoken about U.S.-Canada trade in the past.
I’ve always believed in lowering barriers for trade whether in Canada or with US. But, I know this from my experience as premier, you have to do what’s best in the mutual interest of both U.S. and Canada. You can’t ask for something that does not have a positive benefit for Americans as well.

Read the entire Q&A here.

New U.S. Ambassador Says Solutions Can Be Found to Border and Trade Issues

(The Canadian Press)

The new U.S. ambassador to Canada says he’s confident the two countries can find a way to protect their borders without hampering free trade. David Jacobson says protecting the United States and Canada from terrorist threats is a key priority. Jacobson, who is on a tour of Canada after becoming ambassador earlier this month, plans to visit several U.S.-Canada border crossings […]

But he says border security and efficiency isn’t a zero-sum game, and while he understands Canada’s concerns over Washington’s Buy American policies, he is confident both sides can come to a solution. High-level discussions are ongoing and Jacobson says that while no deal has yet been reached, the talks have been constructive. Read more here.

Envoy Sees Open Yet Safe Border

(Romina Maurino — The Canadian Press)

U.S. ambassador on Canadian tour

The new U.S. ambassador to Canada says he is confident the two countries can find a way to protect their borders without hampering free trade.

Ambassador David Jacobson took his message to a business audience in Toronto on Thursday, telling them that while addressing terror threats is a key priority, trade is just as important for the economies of both countries.

“The security of both the United States and Canadian people, and efficiency at the border, is not a zero-sum game,” said Jacobson.

“We do not have to choose either security or trade — if we approach both of them intelligently, we can have both of them.”

Jacobson, who is on a tour of Canada after becoming ambassador earlier this month, plans to visit several U.S.-Canada border crossings in the Niagara area today.

He said part of the problem with the border is that much of the infrastructure is outdated — some of it even predates the Second World War. Read more here.