U.S. Bill Proposes Charging Canadian Truckers $500 Per Trip

The “freight fee” would cost add $112 million a day to the cost of cross-border trade.

Wait a second, didn’t Obama just pledge to ease border restrictions? A day after news broke that the U.S. could begin charging Canadian airline travelers a $5.50 “passenger inspection fee” come reports that a bill before Congress would charge Canadians exporters up to $500 per truckload of goods. While border restrictions between the two countries have tightened recently because of the threat of terrorism, this bill aims to tackle the other major threat facing America: its crushing debt. The legislation was proposed by California Congressman Bill Calvert and is designed to help the cash-strapped government pay for the country’s road repairs. Observers say the trucking bill has little chance of passing Congress, but the passenger inspection fee is almost certainly a go.