A United States agency is considering a major new levy on cargo entering the Unites States from British Columbia ports, which could harm cross-border trade and impair Canadian efforts to capture more business from Asia.
Richard Lidinsky, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, is looking at whether to “level the playing field” on the West Coast, where modern Canadian ports are taking container-cargo business away from their run-down American counterparts.
But the real intent “is not to level the playing field but to level the competition” Canadian Chamber of Commerce president Perrin Beatty warned in a letter sent Friday to International Trade Minister Ed Fast.
Word of the potential tariff is another blow to Beyond the Border, the major new border-cooperation agreement soon to be released by the American and Canadian governments, and comes on the heels of Buy American provisions contained in proposed new American stimulus legislation. Read more here.
