Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Canada recycles old "preclearance" proposals

Canada's Public Safety minister is playing down the DHS border security review. 

And offering a shopworn proposal to customs preclearance in Canada:

As an example, Van Loan said Canada is interested on reopening talks with the Obama administration about opening U.S. customs pre-clearance facilities at Canadian land border crossings. The aim would be to allow trucks carrying goods to the U.S. to clear American customs before they arrive at the border, "the same way we pre-clear passengers at airports" in several Canadian cities. The idea went nowhere under the Bush administration.

It went nowhere because the US would have to give up its search authorities, be subject to Canadian court supervision, and generally submit to very different Canadian notions of what can and can't be done at a border. How is that improving security as well as facilitating commerce? 




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