FOLLOWING UP MEETINGS ON CROSS BORDER TRADE, SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS URGES TREASURY SECRETARY TO TAKE FURTHER ACTION

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Susan Collins continues to work with U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to address the disparity between personal exemption allowances in Canada and the United States. Following up on meetings that the Senator arranged between top Treasury officials and Maine business owners and community leaders in the border cities of Calais and Presque Isle, Senator Collins is urging the Secretary to use the information gathered at those meetings in negotiations with his Canadian counterpart.

"Now that he is armed with the personal accounts of Maine business owners and local officials, I'm urging the Secretary to redouble his efforts to persuade Canada to relax its restrictive personal exemption policies, which threaten the economies of its neighboring communities, restrict the choices of its residents, and place an additional burden on its customs officers at a time when enforcement resources could be better spent addressing potential threats to the security of our homelands," said Senator Collins.

Senator Collins has been working to address this issue since the last Congress, when she introduced a resolution that passed the Senate and called upon the administration to take steps to remedy the unfair personal exemption disparity. "Unfortunately, the previous administration did not pursue the issue," the Senator said.

The personal exemption disparity harms U.S. businesses along our northern borders because Americans traveling to Canada generally can return to the U.S. with significantly more merchandise than Canadians who visit the U.S. are permitted to take home without incurring duties or taxes.

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