BOSTON—The United States is toughening Canadian border inspections and imposing new levies on air travelers and commercial shippers from Canada to try to prevent bioterrorism and the spread of disease and pests.
The U.S. Agriculture Department decision to levy a surcharge after Nov. 24 to pay for an expansion of border inspections met with outrage from Canadian lawmakers and trade groups who fear it will discourage air travelers and make Canadian goods less competitive.
"Our current dearth of inspection activity at that border could potentially leave the United States vulnerable to bioterrorism," the USDA said in a Aug. 25 statement.
Canada's main opposition party, the Liberals, called the new inspection measures "protectionist" and urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to formally complain to Washington.
"This is pure and simple trade protectionism under the guise of health inspection," said Wayne Easter, a Liberal lawmaker and agriculture critic. "This cost will be a burden on Canadian shippers, travelers and agriculture producers."
Porous in vast stretches and often invisible, America's 5,500-mileborder with Canada is drawing closer scrutiny after President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed in March to work together on border security.
To finance an expansion in inspectors and other costs, new U.S. entry fees will be imposed, ranging from $5 for every air passenger to $488 per maritime vessel. Trucks will pay $5.25 per crossing and railways will pay $7.50 for each car.
The levies are expected to raise $77 million in the 2006 fiscal year and $78 million in fiscal 2007, the USDA said. This would add 136 agriculture inspectors at land-border crossings and a further 65 inspectors at airports.
"It's a significant concern," said Fred Gaspar, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association of Canada.
He said the new fees will discourage air travelers at a time when prices are already high. People flying to the United States from Canada already pay $60 to $100 in immigration fees and air facility charges on every ticket, he said.
Breach of NAFTA?
Canadian trade lawyer Larry Herman said the change could breach the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico and harm the $1.2 billion in trade flowing each day across the U.S.-Canada border in the world's biggest trading relationship.
"This seems to me to a be unilateral move on the part of the United States that, if nothing else, offends the spirit of the NAFTA and good cooperation between two North American countries," said Herman of Toronto law firm Cassels Brock.
A USDA official said it would not contravene NAFTA. "This doesn't disregard NAFTA. These fees already apply to Mexico," said USDA spokeswoman Melissa O'Dell. "We're just being consistent with the fees we apply to other countries."
Canada's cultural diversity draws an "ever-increasing" variety of agricultural products into Canada, whose import rules are less stringent because of its colder climate, the USDA said. Exotic fruits from Asia and Mediterranean wind up in the United States illegally, untreated for disease and evading inspection by being relabeled as originating in Canada.
"This rulemaking ... is necessary on an emergency basis to prevent the introduction of plant and pests and animal diseases into the United States via conventional pathways or through bioterrorism," the USDA said.
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