News stories tagged with "trade"

(12/02/11) This week, in partnership with WBEZ public radio in Chicago, Brian Mann has been traveling in Ontario, comparing and contrasting that province's economy during the recession with conditions here at home.

We've talked about everything from Canada's social safety net to immigration to public sector jobs. Brian's back home this morning in New York and he joined Martha Foley on the line to talk about the range of economic and public policy ideas being tested north of the border.

(10/27/11) A new free-trade agreement with Colombia includes a tax on Canadians visiting the U.S. by air or sea...and one North Country lawmaker has already set out to repeal the fee.

US Congressman Bill Owens, said Monday the recently-signed United States Colombian Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act...includes a $5.50 customs inspection fee for Canadians entering the U.S. by plane or boat.

Owens is in the early stages of introducing legislation to roll back the Canadian fees. He visited Ottawa last week and discussed the potential impacts of the tax with Canadian policymakers. more

(07/18/11) The St. Lawrence Seaway is one of the biggest shipping channels in the world, stretching from the Atlantic to Lake Ontario. In recent years, the system of locks and channels has struggled to build traffic and attract companies interested in shipping cargos through to the Great Lakes.

This year, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which operates the US side of the channel,is requesting $34 million dollars in appropriations from Congress. The money will go to operate the locks in Massena, and it will be used to fund upgrades to the system.

Brian Mann spoke with Collister Johnson, who heads the Development Corporation. He says traffic on the Seaway is rebounding. more

(05/19/10) A top business leader in the North Country says reforms are needed along the US-Canada border. Sylvie Nelson, head of Saranac Lake's chamber of commerce, has been detained and handcuffed repeatedly. As Jon Alexander reports, the issue of border security came up during a meeting last week with Plattsburgh congressman Bill Owens.

(11/19/09) On the St. Lawrence Seaway's website, there's a picture of a freighter docked next to mountains of "containers" - those boxes that fit on trucks and trains and carry virtually every good you can think of. Containers are the currency of global trade. Yet they're passing the St. Lawrence Seaway by. Just a tenth of one percent of all cargo that travelled the St. Lawrence Seaway this year came in a container. Most of the cargo is bulk commodities, stuff like iron ore, coal, steel, and grain - the building blocks of industry that just disappear when the economy tanks. So it's no surprise 2009 was a brutal year for the Seaway, with tonnage down 30%. In fact, Seaway traffic has for the most part decreased since the late 1970s. This all gives Terry Johnson a headache. As head of the U.S. side of the shipping channel that links the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, Johnson's in charge of turning those numbers around. He told David Sommerstein if gas goes back up to 4 dollars a gallon, or if the roads become clogged with truck traffic, the Seaway will benefit. But for now, Johnson places his hopes in those containers. And he hopes they'll come from Nova Scotia.

(06/10/09) Locals in the Akwesasne Mohawk community and in the Ontario city of Cornwall are pressing the Canadian government to begin talks aimed at reopening the Seaway International bridge. Officials from Cornwall were planning to travel to Ottawa today and a community meeting is planned for Friday. The route from New York to Ontario was closed nearly two weeks ago, after Mohawks protested a plan to arm border agents with pistols. Brian Mann was at the border yesterday and has our story.

(02/13/09) Representatives of northern New York's border regions have new hope for sharing border crossing facitlies and procedures with Canada. Martha Foley reports.

(05/29/08) The North Country's manufacturing industry continues to decline. Jarden Plastics, in Tupper Lake, closed earlier this month. Some companies are holding on and looking for ways to survive and grow. But they face big challenges, with rising energy costs and foreign competition. Brian Mann spoke with Stephen Maselli, president of Old Adirondack Furniture in Willsboro. His company employs more than twenty craftsmen and salespeople. Maselli says the region needs to do more to develop and protect the Adirondack brand. One of the national furniture catalogs that used to sell his company's Adirondack chairs now buys chairs from a plant in Asia.

(04/25/08) The U.S. House of representatives voted 395 to 7 yesterday on legislation to force ocean-going freighters to treat ballast water for invasive species before they enter US waters, like the St. Lawrence River. Ballast water is blamed for introducing foreign species like the zebra mussel, sea lampreys and the round goby. The new regulation sets tough standards for the number and size of living organisms that ships can release when they jettison ballast water. New ships have to have treatment technology by next year; all ships must treat ballast water by 2016. The new standard has support from the Great Lakes shipping industry and several environmental groups. Jennifer Caddick is executive director of Save the River, an environmental group based on the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, NY. She spoke with Martha Foley this morning.

(11/27/07) The U.S. and Canada released a long-delayed binational study of the St. Lawrence Seaway late yesterday. The report calls for more ship traffic within the Great Lakes and supports efforts to reduce the impact of invasive species. David Sommerstein reports.