TORONTO, Ont. – The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) says it’s pleased Canada and the U.S. reached a new trade pact, and will continue assessing how the agreement will affect the trucking industry.

“CTA firmly believes the Government of Canada delivered the best deal possible. Now it’s up to the supply chain to take some time to understand what this deal means to our businesses,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski. “The U.S. is by far our largest trading partner and with over 70% of that trade being moved by truck, CTA welcomes the certainty of a trade deal.”

He added the deal will impact all sectors of the economy served by CTA members and could affect cross-border operations.

CTA’s initial analysis of certain sections of the agreement identified some potential changes related to how goods cross the border:

• Potential revisions to the temporary admission of goods as it relates to movements in-transit;
• Changes to promote trade facilitation through electronic submissions and potential changes to warehousing rules;
• Express shipments and changes to the monetary value of goods to which import duties apply
• Enshrining that each country shall establish a single window or maintain a single window system no later than Dec. 31, 2018 that enables the electronic submission through a single-entry point of documents and data;
• Potential changes to the administration of customs penalties, and how they are imposed, including the treatment of “clerical” or “minor” errors;
• Facilitating trade through programs designed to improve the movement of goods through ports of entry, including if feasible, alignment of hours of service, joint customs inspections and shared facilities.

“When this process began, CTA met with its customs committee to develop a wish list we hoped would be addressed during the NAFTA discussions,” said Lak Shoan, CTA director, policy and industry awareness programs. “CTA will be reviewing the agreement’s text and following up with government to understand the complete impact of what was agreed upon.”