(TORONTO, May 7, 2024) — The Honourable Anita Anand, president of the Treasury Board, is leading a revival of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) to help the Canadian private sector discuss regulatory barriers to cross-border trade and investment and identify opportunities for alignment and cooperation.
Yesterday in Ottawa, the president of the Treasury Board held a meeting with multiple associations to discuss this process as the minister begins discussions with her U.S. counterpart, who will be the co-lead of the RCC, through the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
“The RCC has a limited scope of trade matters it can address, but this process allows CTA to tackle issues like U.S. in-transit movements and empty trailer repositioning,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski. “Both of these matters help improve the efficiency of businesses on both sides of the border, bringing costs down in the supply chain and reducing the carbon footprint of the trucking industry.”
In-transit movements through the U.S. remain restricted, whereas they continue to be allowed through Canada. As such, CTA is asking the RCC process to recommend that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) invest in the technology required to migrate A8B documentation requirements from paper to an electronic format and that the U.S. recognize this process. This change, as well as U.S.-Canada political support, should be sufficient to restore simplified in-transit options for Canadian trucking fleets.
Regarding empty trailer movements, CTA is asking that each government recognize, through policy, that a truck driver can reposition an empty trailer in a foreign country, a notion which both the Canadian and U.S. trucking industry remain aligned on.
Currently, it is illegal for a U.S. driver to reposition an empty trailer in Canada and the same applies to a Canadian driver in the U.S., which contributes to the duplication of miles, unproductive time delays, and increased costs that significantly hamper supply chain efficiency.
Under former Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra, the Government of Canada stated it would support the Alliance in our efforts to change this policy and would be willing to work with U.S. officials to allow the repositioning of foreign empty trailers should they be willing to reciprocate.
“This issue has been bogged down for over two decades. We are hoping the revival of the RCC will finally deal with this matter to the satisfaction of both the Canadian and U.S. trucking industries,” added Laskowski.