Border delays between the United States and Canada add about $800 to the price tag of every new North American car. A car manufactured in Korea or Japan clears customs only once when it arrives at a U.S. port, but a North American car is subject to border-related fees and inspections at least seven times as it crosses between the two countries in different stages of production.
We complain about Chinese competition while we fritter away the home-court advantage. Economists estimate that 5 percent of the cost of a North American product goes to pay for border and trade inefficiencies on the U.S. border with Canada.
The advantage that was created by integrating U.S. and Canadian manufacturing through the North American Free Trade Agreement has been lost to layers of red tape and regulation. Read more here.
