GHY Tradelines

(CBSA)

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that the Automated Border Clearance (ABC) program is now available at Terminal 1 of the Toronto Pearson International Airport. While this innovative technology is new to Terminal 1, it has already proven to be enormously successful at Terminal 3 where qualifying arriving passengers have been able to choose an ABC kiosk to streamline a portion of their border clearance process. Read more here.
 

(CBSA)

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a joint report  on the findings of Phase I of the Entry/Exit Initiative. The report demonstrates progress in establishing a coordinated Entry/Exit information system that enhances border security. This report also demonstrates that Canada and the United States (U.S.) are continuing to deliver on key commitments under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

As part of Phase I, the CBSA and DHS exchanged routine biographic entry information – collected between September 30, 2012, and January 15, 2013 – of third-country nationals (those who are neither citizens of Canada nor of the U.S.), permanent residents of Canada and lawful permanent residents of the United States at four land ports of entry in British Columbia/Washington State and in Ontario/New York. Phase I tested the concept of an Entry/Exit system for both countries through the exchange of information, such that a record of entry into one country becomes a record of exit from the other.

Both Canada and the U.S. found the following from biographic entry records exchanged from the four ports of entry selected for Phase I:
• entry and exit records were reconciled, thereby indicating whether a third-country national complied with the terms of his or her admission/entry;
• potential overstays were identified;
• potential unexecuted immigration warrants were identified; and
• opportunities exist to identify document anomalies or fraud.

Read more »

(Canadian Press)

The federal government is breathing a sigh of relief after a U.S. Senate committee rejected a proposal to collect fees at land border crossings.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan says he’s pleased the potential fees have been quashed.

He says they would have damaged the Canadian and U.S. economies.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had wanted Congress to authorize the study of a fee that could be collected from everyone entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.

But yesterday, the Senate judiciary committee voted to amend the Immigration Reform Bill to ban such a fee. Read more here.
 

(Government of Canada)

The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, and the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport), spoke today at the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance Ottawa Conference on the benefits of and the progress made to date under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

“Our government continues to make the implementation of the Beyond the Border Action Plan a key priority, and we have made significant progress to date,” said Minister Toews. “We are making the border more efficient by strengthening our security and facilitating trade. This will benefit both travellers and businesses.” Read more here.
 

(Niagara News Now)

The Niagara Falls Bridge Commission has announced upcoming summer construction activity that will result in a series of lane closures within the Queenston Plaza of the Queenston-Lewiston bridge.

Such closures will commence in early May and conclude in late August.

Motorists and commercial carriers are asked to take note of these scheduled closure dates (available below), which are now available online at www.niagarafallsbridges.com. Read more here.
 

(Burnaby Now)

Yes, everyone’s in a tizzy since the Americans announced they’re considering charging a fee to Canadian border crossers.

While bridges across the Lower Mainland are springing up with tolls, we’ve always taken it for granted that a trip to the States will be gratis.

Well, for a certain value of free. A border crossing fee, especially one of $1 to $10, won’t deter anyone from making a once-a-year trip to see Disneyland or their American friends or relatives.

But there are those who cross the border every day – truckers, mostly, but some folks choose to live in Canada and work in the U.S., or vice versa. Read more here.
 

(USA Today)

Delivery trucks from Mexico line up early in the morning at the border crossing in Tijuana, where 20 million flat-screen TVs were manufactured last year. Traffic studies found cargo trucks, even empty ones, wait 90 minutes on average to cross into the USA as U.S. Customs agents check vehicles for contraband, and then spend at least an hour waiting to get back into Tijuana.

“Trucks that are a critical element of a competitive supply chain may spend three to four hours waiting in line during a day,” says Kenn Morris, president of the Crossborder Group, a San Diego consultancy, which commissioned the traffic studies. “These kinds of delays are both too typical and really strangle border economies … and put more barriers between what should be two strong economic partners.”

Improving on the way goods flow from Mexico to the USA is what President Enrique Peña Nieto intends to emphasize Thursday when President Obama visits Mexico City. […] U.S.-Mexican trade has risen as Mexico becomes an increasingly attractive locale for U.S. manufacturers that are seeing the cost to produce goods in China go up. Trade between Mexico and the USA topped $500 billion in 2012. Read more here.
 

(Randy Boswell – Postmedia News)

Three U.S. lawmakers have launched a bid to scrap the “dysfunctional” binational agency that has overseen operation of the Peace Bridge between Ontario and New York for nearly a century, part of the escalating fallout from a dispute over planned improvements to the U.S. approach to the crossing that has pitted Canadian board members against their American counterparts.

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority — commonly known as the Peace Bridge Authority — and the key international link it has administered since 1923 have been hailed as symbols of the enduring friendship between the U.S. and Canada after the War of 1812, the key battles of which were fought near the present site of the Niagara River bridge that connects Fort Erie, Ont., and Buffalo, N.Y Read more here.
 

(Philly.com)

Federal spending on border security is at an all-time high—and it would get even higher under the Gang of Eight’s new plan. The Senate immigration proposal, released last week, would allocate $4.5 billion in the next five years to tighten control of U.S. borders.

The U.S. spent nearly $18 billion dollars on immigration enforcement agencies last fiscal year, more than all other law enforcement agencies combined.

Where would another $4.5 billion go? Here’s a closer look at what is being proposed, and how the government has spent (and often wasted) border money in recent years. Read more here.
 

(The Canadian Press)

A U.S. congressman says Canadians should not be overly concerned about a proposed border crossing fee, saying it just isn’t going to happen.

Democratic representative Brian Higgins, who is from the border city of Buffalo, N.Y., told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday that he has a lot of allies in the U.S. Congress who will stop any legislation that includes a fee.

Higgins, who is a member of the Homeland security committee, has been a vocal critic of a proposed feasibility study on a border fee since it was spotted last week buried deep in the department’s 2014 budget. New York Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, has also spoken out in opposition. Read more here.
 

(Jerry Zremski – Buffalo News)

The federal government is considering imposing a fee on passenger vehicles and pedestrians crossing the Canadian and Mexican borders.

The Department of Homeland Security suggested studying the imposition of such a fee in its fiscal 2014 budget proposal, which was released last week. But the idea attracted little notice until Thursday, when Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, lashed out at the idea as a potential killer of cross-border business.

“At a time when we are looking to increase economic activity at our northern border, we should not be authoring proposals that would do the reverse,” Higgins said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Read more here.
 

(Imperial Valley News)

USC announced the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) completed a study that estimates the impacts of wait times at major ports of entry on the U.S. economy due to changes in customs and border officers staffing.

The study concludes adding 33 customs and border protection officers (1 at each of the selected 33 land and airport locations studied) will potentially lead to an increase in GDP of $61.8 million and employment gains of 1,053 jobs in the U.S.

“We estimate that every additional officer, if placed at ports of entry with high traffic volume would, on average, lead to 33 additional jobs being stimulated indirectly in the U.S. economy,” said Adam Rose, principal investigator of the study and Professor of Public Policy at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. He also noted this outcome is not a standard “multiplier,” which pertains to ordinary economic activity, but instead refers to the gains from alleviating potential bottlenecks at peak times. Read more here.
 

(Mike Blanchfield – Canadian Press)

The federal budget says new projects related to Canada’s perimeter security deal with the United States will go ahead as planned, despite budget woes south of the border. The federal budget has given the green light to almost a dozen information-sharing and infrastructure projects related to the Beyond the Border initiative between the two countries.

The vaunted deal was announced with fanfare by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama in December 2011 at the White House. The plan aims to speed the flow of goods and people across the 49th parallel while protecting the continent from a terrorist attack. Key to the deal was a series of pilot projects and other initiatives that were timed to roll out over coming years.

However, questions have hung over the future of the border plan after the latest round of budgetary brinkmanship between U.S. Democrats and Republicans caused Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to predict thousands of possible job losses at U.S. customs. Read more here.
 

(Public Safety Canada)

Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Vic Toews, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that paves the way for a United States Customs and Border Protection (U.S. CBP) truck cargo pre-inspection pilot project on Canadian soil. The MOU was signed in Washington during their biannual meeting and is a commitment made as part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

“Our Government aims to enhance our security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods and services at the Canada–U.S. border, as envisioned in the Beyond the Border Action Plan,” said Minister Toews. “The pilot announced today will test the concept of conducting primary inspection of U.S.-bound truck cargo in Canada in order to better manage our shared border and improve economic opportunities for Canadian manufacturers and their U.S.-based supply chain partners.”

“Our countries have made significant progress in implementing the initiatives of the Beyond the Border Action Plan,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The implementation of the truck cargo pre-inspection pilot will aim to further enhance the economic and national security of both of our nations.”

Canadian and U.S. officials will now work together to finalize the details to implement the pilot. The truck cargo pre-inspection pilot will be carried out in two phases:

• Phase I will test the concept of conducting U.S. CBP primary cargo inspection in Canada, and will be implemented at the Pacific Highway crossing between Surrey, British Columbia and Blaine, Washington.

• Phase II will further test how pre-inspection could enhance border efficiency and reduce wait times to facilitate legitimate trade and travel, and will be implemented at the Peace Bridge crossing between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.

The Canadian and U.S. governments will continue to work closely with key stakeholders. Their views will be sought throughout the pilot project to help ensure its success.
 

(STR Trade Report)

Massive spending cuts across the federal government began to take effect March 1 and officials say that within the next 30 days there could be drastic effects on a broad range of customs and trade functions, from longer cargo processing times to delays in trade negotiations. There appears to be no imminent solution to the budget impasse that led to the so-called sequester, raising questions about how long it might take for things to get back to normal.

Tim Reif, general counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, told an annual trade conference at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., Feb. 28 that the sequester will require USTR to cut staff. Fewer people will mean a “reduced ability to engage with our trading partners” in negotiations such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a bilateral free trade agreement with the European Union, and plurilateral pacts to further liberalize trade in services and high-tech goods. Reif added that USTR also “may no longer have the funding to initiate new legal disputes, which would result in reduced enforcement of trade agreements.”

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week that the sequester would also have “serious consequences to the flow of trade and travel at our nation’s ports of entry.” Napolitano said DHS “will have to begin to furlough” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who staff those ports, reduce overtime and eliminate hiring to backfill positions. As a result, on the U.S.-Mexico border “our biggest land ports could face waits of up to five hours, functionally closing these ports during core hours.” Seaports will see delays in container examinations increase to up to five days, resulting in increased costs to the trade community and reduced availability of consumer goods and raw materials, and mid-sized and smaller ports will experience constrained hours of operation.

Other federal agencies with trade-related functions have previously said the sequester will have a major impact on them as well by limiting their ability to conduct export license verification checks, engage in trade enforcement, compliance and market access activities, inspect foreign and domestic food facilities, and handle large volumes of air cargo traffic.
 

(Jon Hembrey – CBC News)

Cross-border trade, Canadian manufacturers will feel the sequester

The billions in automatic spending cuts in the U.S., which come into effect today, could have an impact on cross-border trade with Canada as well as contribute to a general economic slowdown.

“It’s very hard to say,” Ambarish Chandra, assistant professor of economics at the University of Toronto, said of the potential effects here.

“I think even within the U.S. it’s not clear where the axe will fall. There is so much uncertainty about exactly what programs are going to be cut and which ones aren’t.”

President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of congressional leaders failed to reach an agreement during a meeting on Friday.

Given the sheer size of the cuts — the plan involves slashing $1.2 trillion in federal spending by 2021, including $85 billion this fiscal year — the sequester will undoubtedly have some impact, particularly with respect to cross-border travel and trade. Read more here.
 

(Lee-Anne Goodman – Leader Post)

Lengthy lineups at the Canada-U.S. border. Long flight delays. A loss of lucrative American business contracts. The much-heralded Beyond the Border initiatives placed on the back burner indefinitely.

Canada will feel the sting if U.S. Congress fails this week to avert what’s known as sequestration, an array of massive, mandated spending cuts to a host of federal departments and agencies aimed at slashing America’s $16-trillion U.S. national debt. On Thursday, $85 billion U.S. in cuts for this fiscal year alone are slated to kick in. All told, sequestration would amount to $1.2 trillion U.S. in budget reductions by 2021.

For Canadians, that means quick shopping trips to nearby border communities will almost immediately become a hassle as they’re confronted with waits of several hours at busier entry points. They’ll also feel the long hand of sequestration when they fly given there will be a ripple effect across North America as U.S. officials cancel flights and shutter some control towers and airports.

Canadian exporters, meantime, will face far longer cargo processing times at border entries as well. Business travellers will be ensnared in long lines at the border. And Beyond the Border, the Canada-U.S. plan aimed at intelligence-sharing, easing and streamlining cross-border trade and harmonizing regulations, could also be shelved with U.S. Customs and Border Protection poised to cut the equivalent of almost 8,000 positions. Read more here.
 

(CTV News)

A new study shows Canadians are heading south of the border at a pace that hasn’t been seen in more than a decade, while some Surrey businesses are feeling left behind.

The study out of Washington state shows the number of border crossers has hit a 15-year high, with more than 15-million Canadians passing through major border crossings last year.

Lower prices on staple items like gas and groceries might explain the numbers. Read more here.
 

(Government of Canada)

The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, and the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, today announced that the Government of Canada is seeking bids for informatics professional services in order to advance economic prosperity and enhance security between Canada and the United States of America under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

“The Government of Canada is committed to speeding up legitimate Canadian-American trade and travel, making our shared border more efficient,” said Minister Ambrose. “We are inviting information technology suppliers to submit proposals to support the implementation of critical components of the Beyond the Border Action Plan.”

“The Canada Border Services Agency has a lead role in implementing initiatives under the Action Plan to keep the border open to legitimate trade and travel,” said Minister Toews. “Through this procurement process, our Government is demonstrating a border management approach that reflects our mutual efforts to facilitate the flow of low-risk people and goods across our shared border. This process will also ensure that our procurement activities are done in a fair and focused manner that respects taxpayers’ dollars.”

Public Works and Government Services Canada, on behalf of the Canada Border Services Agency, today issued a Request for Proposals for the informatics professional services required to support a wide range of initiatives identified in the Action Plan. These services, covering seven different streams, include business process re-engineering, application development and project management services.

The technical services provided by the successful contractors will be essential to delivering functionalities that will improve commercial and traveller crossings, including efforts to align internal financial systems, enabling the capacity to accept payments and to more quickly facilitate border crossing and trade.

The Beyond the Border Action Plan, announced by the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States in 2011, is designed to increase North American security and, at the same time, revitalize cooperation, trade, and North American competitiveness.

Public Works and Government Services Canada is committed to a fair, open and transparent tendering process and has issued a Request for Proposals on the Government Electronic Tendering System at www.merx.com.
 

(Seaway News)

Canada Border Services Agency has a long-term plan to set up a permanent port of entry that will serve Cornwall in the United States – the problem is, no one knows when that will take place.

Representatives of the border agency were before city council Monday night, where they explained that negotiations with their counterparts in the U.S. about creating a permanent home are ongoing. But when pressed by some councillors for a timeline to complete the negotiations under the so-called “Beyond the Borders” plan, CBSA officials could offer nothing concrete. Read more here.