ARCHIVED – Backgrounder — An overview of the Beyond the Border Action Plan: Facilitating the conduct of cross-border business

The Beyond the Border Action Plan provides a practical road map for facilitating legitimate trade and travel across the Canada-United States (U.S.) border, while enhancing security.

In a typical year, over $612 billion worth of two-way trade in goods and services takes place between Canada and the United States. Canadian exports to the U.S. support one in seven jobs in Canada, and U.S. exports to Canada support millions of jobs in the United States. Clearly, the economic impact of an efficient Canada-U.S. border is critically important for the continued competitiveness of our export and import industries.

Business travellers sometimes run into difficulty when trying to cross the border due to complicated administrative procedures. Under the Beyond the Border Action Plan, the Canadian and U.S. governments have committed to work together to ensure business travellers benefit from more efficient and predictable border clearance processes.

Implementation of the Action Plan is expected to:

• provide increased predictability and consistency for business travellers at the border;
• improve the speed of service to business travellers;
• improve the movement of key personnel critical to maintaining business continuity; and
• provide greater opportunity for engagement with government to ensure procedures are meeting the needs of business.

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