OTTAWA (UPI) -- Canada is warily considering U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to tax Canadian and Mexican air and sea travelers at U.S. borders, lobbyists in Ottawa said.
The item is in the Democrats' budget before Congress and includes a $5.50 "passenger inspection" fee that doesn't include vehicle traffic, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean countries were exempted from the fee in 1997, but the latest budget would restore it, the report said.
Canada's largest trade and industry association, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, denounced the move.
"It's an indication that the United States is going to be looking to generate new moneys to offset their budget deficit on outsiders who don't vote -- and that would be us," spokeswoman Birgit Matthiesen told the newspaper. "The raising of any fees on the Canada-U.S. border is troubling."
However, Christopher Sands, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, told the Citizen Canadians shouldn't take it personally.
"Don't worry that Obama is not your friend," Sands said. "If the fee is something Canadians really would find problematic, they ought to raise a ruckus, not necessarily beat the administration over the head with it, but make it clear to the (U.S.) business community that this would be an additional impediment on trade."
Copyright 2011 by United Press International
The item is in the Democrats' budget before Congress and includes a $5.50 "passenger inspection" fee that doesn't include vehicle traffic, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean countries were exempted from the fee in 1997, but the latest budget would restore it, the report said.
Canada's largest trade and industry association, the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, denounced the move.
"It's an indication that the United States is going to be looking to generate new moneys to offset their budget deficit on outsiders who don't vote -- and that would be us," spokeswoman Birgit Matthiesen told the newspaper. "The raising of any fees on the Canada-U.S. border is troubling."
However, Christopher Sands, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, told the Citizen Canadians shouldn't take it personally.
"Don't worry that Obama is not your friend," Sands said. "If the fee is something Canadians really would find problematic, they ought to raise a ruckus, not necessarily beat the administration over the head with it, but make it clear to the (U.S.) business community that this would be an additional impediment on trade."
Copyright 2011 by United Press International
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