Both Obama & Clinton want to renegotiate NAFTA. Why?

Hey, Boom, you ever tried shipping something from Canada to the US?

Canada Customs is a piece of cake compared to the US. I mean, a fucking piece of cake.

Oh, and if you can't fill out the paperwork properly--not rocket science--you get what you deserve.

And why wouldn't you pay a customs broker? How the hell do you expect to, you know, actually get your stuff through Customs?

NAFTA is a trade agreement and not (thank Christ) economic union. The borders still exist.

 

Here is a little sample of what you have to worry about when shipping to Canada:

two official languages, two measurement systems and about 4 or 5 taxes--Provincial Sales Tax (PST), Quebec Sales Tax (QST), Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and Goods and Service Tax (GST).

then you have to deal with the complex customs system.

Canada has way more barriers to doing business than the US does.

 

Boom,
You're the perfect example of a little knowledge being dangerous.

The fact that we're a bilingual country is irrelevant. You can do up your documents in either French or English. Matters not.

What are the two measurement systems? We have one.

Provincial taxes have nothing to do with Customs because it's under federal jurisdiction. They have nothing to do with shipping goods to Canada.

The GST is a 5% federal pass-through tax (cf VAT in the UK). It's pretty simple. I could explain it to you in five minutes.

If you want to talk about barriers, let's compare FDA regulations versus CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) regs. The FDA procedures are practically Kafkaesque.

You guys win in a fuckin' heartbeat when it comes to byzantine regulations.

 

You forgot about the customs broker fees.

 

Boom, what is this obsession about the fees?

You ship from Canada to the US, you pay brokers' fees.

Ship from the US to Canada, you pay brokers' fees.

You are shipping goods into a foreign country and they have to be cleared through customs.

What's the problem?

 

Canada has a lot more barriers than the US to promote purchase of good in Canada.

Lets take an example

Say I sell and ship a $200 widget to someone in Canada. It will cost about $50 to ship item. $50- $60 in customs clearance , $20 in dutry taxes. - Your $200 item is now at $340 before GST and provincial sales taxes are applied.

 

Quebec does not allow imported hammers. They only want Canadian hammers used on the baby seals

 

And Boom, the same math applies if you ship goods from Canada to the U.S.

You have the same shipping fees, the same customs clearance fees and the same duty (if applicable) It's no different. Whatever barriers you perceive work equally in both the US and Canada.

GST is part of the clearance process but it doesn't present a barrier since businesses get it back through their Input Tax Credits.

Provincial taxes are irrelevant to the argument

 

I have no idea what a widget is. I cannot be the only one.

 

Hmm. Then what's a henway?