OTTAWA -- Truckers who haul the vast majority of goods between the United States and Canada expressed disappointment after two years’ of talks to move some U.S. Customs pre-clearance operations from Buffalo, N.Y., to Fort Erie, Ontario, failed to produce an agreement. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff broke off negotiations in a telephone call Wednesday to his Canadian counterpart, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, and in a formal letter Thursday. Chertoff in the letter said that U.S. searches, investigations, and fingerprinting would have been restricted under Canadian law. “That is something we are not willing to surrender,” said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke.
Pre-clearance was included as a part of “shared border management” in the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Security and Prosperity Partnership of 2004. The plan called for a pilot project shifting some U.S. Customs operations to Canada from its cramped location at Buffalo, and Canadian Customs would move to the U.S., at Alexandria Bay, N.Y. “It’s not good,” said Margaret Irwin, director of cross-border operations for the American Trucking Associations in Washington. “This was something important for the better movement of traffic in the third-busiest commercial crossing between the United States and Canada, and it certainly isn’t good for the prospects of this concept being used anywhere else along the northern border.”
Carriers and shippers have long lobbied for “reverse inspection” along the border, to improve traffic flow and security. Those prospects now appear unlikely to be adopted. “We are disappointed,” said Ron Lennox, vice president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance headquartered in Ottawa. “We really wanted these pilots to go ahead. If they are not willing to go ahead with these pilot projects, then there’s not much prospect for it proceeding elsewhere along the border.” U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said the impasse was disappointing and in a letter to Chertoff asked for federal assistance for Buffalo and the state of New York. U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, another New York Democrat, said she would seek White House support to keep the project alive. It was “critical to the economic future of Buffalo and to the health of U.S.-Canada commerce,” she said.
Day told the media that the United States would not accept rigorous background and criminal checks as alternatives to fingerprinting, even if individuals decided not to enter the U.S. Canada only allows fingerprinting of persons charged with a crime. Canadian law would also govern searches and investigations by U.S. inspectors, another compromise Washington was unwilling to make, Knocke said.
Chertoff in his letter to Day said “Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies are highly skilled and cooperative partners,” but the United States “has an independent obligation to assure public safety and border security” and could not be bound by Canadian law.
