The Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce wants to keep the bar low when it comes to cross-border e-commerce.
In partnership with chambers in Niagara, Sarnia and Thunder Bay, the local chamber is calling for the "De Minimus" to be held at $20.
That's the value of goods that can be purchased by Canadians from out-of-country websites without paying duty.
The U.S. government is pushing for an $800 limit as part of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Windsor chamber president Matt Marchand says any increase would devastate Canadian retail. "We want to ensure we have a competitive playing field with respect to our retailers in Canada versus the retailers in the U.S. Just to give you a small example, in Canada about two-thirds of us buy stuff on-line from the U.S., but only about one-fifth or 20% of Americans buy on-line in Canada.
"Canadian retailers and e-commerce sites are already facing cost challenges," says Marchand. Our cost structure here in Ontario, and some would say in Canada, is getting out of line and we need every advantage to our status quo we can get just to help our employers and of course their employees. The retail sector employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians and many in Windsor-Essex.
As the NAFTA negotiations get deeper and more heated and more detailed, we don't want the De Minimus to be used as a bargaining chip," says Marchand. "We think it's a stand alone issue, we think it should stay where it is and really should not be part of NAFTA."