Québec in North America : Exporting to the United States in the New Security Context : The Case of CLIC Import-Export

Abstract

This note addresses security at the U.S. border and its effects on Québec exports. It is based on interviews with Québec officials and with the CEO of CLIC Import-Export, a Québec-based trader of Middle Eastern and Asian products. CLIC illustrates the ongoing problems for Québec companies on the Québec-U.S. borders. Indeed, the new regulations imposed by the U.S. Homeland Security on the U.S. borders with Canada have affected CLIC's exports to the United States, leading to millions of dollars in losses. These regulations also imposed a change in the way CLIC imports products from third world countries before shipping them to the United States. These countries' lack of C-TPAT certification caused CLIC to lose some of its U.S. markets, although it did start implementing all U.S. imposed regulations from Canada.