BUFFALO, N.Y. — Even though Canada is America’s largest trading partner, federal policies south of the border sometimes fail to reinforce security without hampering trade.

This and other findings on the U.S.-Canada trade relationship are published in "Border Brief," a joint effort of the Regional Institute and the Border Policy Research Institute of Western Washington University and the University of Buffalo.

The brief examines border issues through a snapshot of export activity in October 2007 across two trade main CanAm corridors — Buffalo-Fort Erie, Ont. and Blaine, Wash.-Vancouver.

"Buffalo and Blaine are uniquely situated to serve as microcosms of the U.S.-Canada relationship," said David Davidson, associate director of the Border Policy Research Institute and co-author of the brief.

The study was done last October, typically the peak month for trade due to pre-holiday stockpiling.

U.S. exports to Canada (20 percent) totaling more than those to Mexico, Japan and China combined. But they comprised more than 50 percent for five states (Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa).

Only 5 percent of commercial border crossers use
the FAST lane at the Blaine-Vancouver border

Canada was the largest export market for 36 states and the second largest for 10 others, which is almost the entire country.

However, the study says that the myriad of pre-screening programs intended to bolster security at the Canada-U.S. border are in need of attention. It noted that while pre-screening programs for trucks and shippers (like C-TPAT or FAST are costly, participation in these programs remains relatively low.

At Buffalo-Niagara Falls, only 23 percent of trucks use the FAST lanes to cross the border, while only 5 percent do so at Blaine.

"Part of the challenge here is the uniform implementation of federal policies across a wide range of border regions, each with different commodity flows, shipper profiles and traffic patterns," says Peter A. Lombardi, a University of Buffalo policy analyst and co-author of the brief.

For instance, he explains that more agricultural products cross at Blaine relative to other regions and such products are harder to screen due to their complex supply chain. In contrast, trade across Detroit-Windsor where 44 percent of trucks use FAST lanes, is dominated by a few large automotive companies and their transport providers.

"Rather than look to policy solutions at the continental level, policies that allow for some flexibility in regional implementation could improve border efficiencies without compromising security," Lombardi added.

Adds Kathryn Bryk Friedman, institute deputy director and head of the institute’s Region’s Edge research initiative on binational regions:

"The lessons of this policy brief are eye-opening," she said. "This collaborative brief demonstrates that the public, private and academic sectors must move beyond the security-economy dichotomy that currently frames debate and policy options. We need to push the conversation to a new level."