Donald Trump Mentions Shoes and Canada, So We Argue About It

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Trump says Canadians buy shoes in the U.S. and smuggle them back in to avoid tariffs….well ya!

It’s also fascinating that so many of our media elites found this shoe story to be improbable. I think they lead a different life than the average Canuck.

More here….

75 Replies to “Donald Trump Mentions Shoes and Canada, So We Argue About It”

  1. Brian, the eastern media elites should all park themselves in the store parking lots of Bellingham, Washington on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. They would be amazed to see all of the items being purchased and driven though the border, 25 miles to the north!

    1. Same in Ontario, Buffalo NY would have to close most of their shopping centers had it not been for Ontarians.

    2. Quite often the big box merchants in Bellingham do money at PAR for the Canadians that go there.. By the Thousands.

    3. And then the other shoe dropped…!

      Prosit!

      Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
      1st Saint Nicolaas Army
      Army Group ‘True North’

    4. Several years ago, when a smallish Costco was on Meridian Way in Bellingham, WA, a very small number of people from Bellingham, got together to protest all the cars with BC plates in the parking lot. The Bellingham Chamber of Commerce issued an open letter to the people of Bellingham. It stated and backed up, that Bellingham would not be as prosperous and have the population it had if Canadians did not spend time and money: use restaurants, buy gas for their cars, and shop in stores, including Costco. It said the people in Bellingham should thank Canadians for spending their money in Bellingham.

      1. When I was at UBC nearly 40 years ago, I remember seeing an ad from an American hotel, either in Bellingham or Seattle, on cable TV. It was clearly directed to Canadians as one of its selling points was that our currency would have been taken at par in that establishment.

    5. Including purchases by my son and his family as well as his wife’s family from Chilliwack. They make regular shopping trips and on the way home stop at a quaint cheese shop.

    6. Canadians can bring back up to $800 worth of goods per person if they are in the US long enough.

  2. I typically don’t lie about imports although I might not actually declare a pair of shoes. When we go to the US we are there at least a week and have a reasonable customs limit and typically buy goods made in the US. Many times, instead of calculating peanuts in tax, we get waved through. Truthfully, I’d rather pay $50 on $1,000 of goods and save the hassle.

  3. My favourite smuggler was the guy in a tiny Suzuki 4×4 who pulled up to the wicket, answered the questions, and was waved through. The officer then looked at me and beckoned me forward, no longer interested in the Suzuki, which was carrying a 10:00×20 truck tire on his spare tire rack. We got questioned closely, probably because we were trying so hard not to laugh.

  4. The World’s longest undefended border! (Except for the thousands of uniformed, armed government people hanging around.)

    1. (Except for the thousands of uniformed, armed government people hanging around.)

      They are there to carry luggage for people illegally crossing the border. Porters?

  5. I split a large downstairs room into 2 parts to make a spare bedroom. the ONLY place I could find paneling to match the existing stuff was a bldg supply in N Falls NY, so away I go armed with a utility knife to split it to fit in my hatchback.
    I get to the genius at the Cdn border who chirps ‘anyt’ing tu daclar?’
    I couldnt stop laughing for about 3 or 4 minutes.
    I hope I dont have to explain the funny part to anyone.
    anyways, here’s today’s comic relief:
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wks9qTuSzW0/TUDhAcMjDUI/AAAAAAAABYM/MlTuX7vpQ1E/s1600/HomeDepot+Car.jpg

  6. Reminds me of the day, years ago, while standing at the customs counter (we were called in) with my sister and very young niece. My niece looking up at the customs agent while pointing at her feet and shouting “I got new shoes!”.

  7. Shoes… Really Shoes… How about jeans, shirts, work boots, tires, oil filters, air filters, school supplies, etc etc…

    Why do you think Trudeau tries to keep a dollar at a sucky level…

  8. Leaving Minneapolis very late one night, there were no rooms available between Minneapolis and Thunder Bay. Arriving at the border at 4 AM, dog tired and with a packed car, the guard just said “go” and waved us through.

  9. When an agent asked me if I had any alcohol to declare I said “no”, forgetting the wine I had purchased at a Washington Winery.
    “Why not?” he asked and again without thinking I said, “I don’t Drink”.
    “Sure” he said and waved us through.
    The joke ended up being on me because the car was too hot and the wine had turned to crap by the time we got home.

  10. According to Statscan’s latest numbers, in March a total of 2 million Canadians drove to the US while 690,000 Americans drove here.

    We’re heading there 3x more often than they’re coming here, even though they have 10x the population.

    I wonder how many Canadian malls are built at the border for US shoppers.

  11. What about the so called police officer from Niagara getting caught smuggling cheese to the local pizzerias….
    PS : resigned before disciplinary proceedings………………

  12. “fascinating that so many of our media elites found this shoe story to be improbable. I think they lead a different life…”

    Yeah, they lead the life that knows that the good shoes are to be found in Italy.

    1. The ‘different life’ life they lead is that they’re willing to lie their asses off anytime about any matter in support of the left.

      They too buy shoes and anything else they can south of the border and cheat the taxman, despite constantly calling for more taxes.

  13. I can hardly wait to see the headline when thousands of Canadian snowbirds are arrested for smuggling all the “cheap ” goods into the U. S. – so I leave you with this quote -” How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct .” Benjamin Diseraeli

  14. My friends and I bought clothes and wore em back. Early 20s, we thought we were geniuses.

    Two layers of pants each, two shirts. Border agents questioned us and eventually ended up laughing at us. One agent was howling, we looked so ridiculous. Told us to go pay the duty, which ended up at about $17.

    Woulda done it again, but we were too embarrassed to ever try again.

  15. I live at the border. Smuggle back anything and everything I can at various times. If the media doesn’t think millions of Canadians do this every year it verifies it’s stupidity

  16. Meanwhile, ever since Trade War Trudeau was declared, the loonie dropped around $0.02 USD. It won’t be long before our currency will be called the Hudson’s Bay peso once again.

    Just what we need….

  17. I remember when we were growing up in the 70s mom and dad would load us up in the car…go over to Detroit and take advantage of their Labour Day Weekend sales. Us kids would literally be in the back seat each wearing three or four pairs of pants, five shirts, 3 sweaters and a winter coat…and if any of you know the climate in the area…the 30ºC+ climate wasn’t conducive to wearing a winter coat and four sweaters.

  18. I wonder how we account for the Americans who come north and return home with a couple of bottles of Crown Royal or a case of Canadian beer?

    From experience I can tell you that this happens fairly frequently.

    1. I am pretty sure that Canadian liquor and cigarettes are cheaper in the US.

      3. I’m pretty sure everything Bombardier makes is sold cheaper in the U.S.A. than it is in Canada.

    2. Someone above posted the numbers: 2 million Canadians visiting the US; 690,000 coming the other way. Pretty sure we spend way more there than they do here on stuff to take home.

  19. Six or seven years ago we got to the border and when we told the customs guy we’d been in the USA to watch baseball and go shopping he asked what we shopped for. We had all the receipts totaled up and converted to Canadian currency. We were over limit and prepared to pay.
    My wife leaned across me to the open window and said “shoes”. The officer rolled his eyes and said “Of course. You folks have a safe trip home.”

  20. There’s a connection here, somewhere, between the dairy industry and shoes.
    After I figure that out, I’ll make a recommendation.

    1. Let me help with a connection: Canadian government policies ensure its citizens pay more for both products.
      In case you also can’t come up with a recommendation allow me to suggest one: lower Canadian tariffs and customs fees.

  21. Pennsylvania has no sales tax on clothes. Go to the mall or other large retail centers around the city of Erie on December weekends and the parking lots invariably have a handful of tour buses with Ontario plates. Here come the Canucks to buy their Christmas gifts! Thank you for you business. Always hoped they would bring down a few cases of Upper Canada as an offering of neighborly friendship….woulda been nice of ’em.

  22. – Well of course our elites do the same – but they still despise us, “Canada’s Deplorables”, because we do it. Aren’t we PATRIOTIC, or something? – patriotism being a strictly lower-middle-class affliction that thank goodness, THEY don’t suffer.

    “If the Left didn’t have double standards, they’d have none at all.”

  23. I’ve never been to the U.S.A. and brought stuff back, but I shop a lot remotely (mail order, online) and when Customs doesn’t bother to charge duty it’s just a bonus. When they do, I have already factored it in to the purchase decision and still save significant amounts of money. Sometimes my decision to buy Canadian made or at least Canadian retailed goods is influenced by the fact that it contributes something to our economy, but our trade with the U.S.A. is vital to our economy so buying from our neighbours can indirectly help our economy.

    President Trump is a tough negotiator and it’s going to cost us some business when he’s doing “American first”, but that’s his job and it’s going to cost us a lot more business to not get on with him and his voters.

    Justin Trudeau is not loyal to Canada.

  24. Justin Trudeau is not loyal to Canada.

    Neither was his father. It must run in the family.

    1. Their first loyalty (other than their own family) is their home province of Quebec.

  25. My wife and I had a small business in Vancouver doing window coverings. I needed a set of curtain rail benders, I enquired of the local distributor and was told $120.00 and a three month wait. I called the distributor in Tacoma, he had them in stock for $20.00. This is the reality of Canada-US trade! (But they were not labeled in French).

    1. Isn’t that outrageous. Canadians need to recognize that they are getting ripped off. Today I passed on a block of cheese because the price was $9.50 or something. This was a smallish chunk of cheese. I think we should start boycotting dairy rather than worrying about boycotting US products.

  26. I am Just south of BC and Alberta in Montana – you guys spend more money down here than Zuckerburg, Buffet and Bezos combined. You also go to our hospitals for immediate surgeries and scans instead of dying in Canada waiting for your free healthcare that is rationed by time.

    1. I can speak from experience…no, we don’t die waiting for surgeries. I’ve had 3 & I didn’t wait very long (longest was 3 weeks) & I’m still here walking about in Calgary. I’m also not thinking that it was all “free”, too. I file my own income taxes. For someone living in Lethbridge, Montana is a plus. Anything I save in Montana I’d blow on the gas to go there & come back, unless I’m buying everything to build a house all at once.

      As for shopping: Canada is poorly served in retail, on everything, quality & price. I do photography for a hobby. I deal with a particular photo outfit….in New York city. I can get more selection on photo gear at a cheaper price, shipped across the continent, even paying the duty & taxes, than I do buying locally. Some stuff, they just don’t carry in Canada. I used to buy in Honk Kong online, but their prices are now “Canadian”, too.

      Smug Ontarioans, BC’ers & Quebecers & some Albertans too, cross border shop at their ease, well the ones close to the border anyway. Then you get all pissy & block western crude crossing your borders to a ready market. “Cause I can get it cheaper in Blaine.”

      We should do the same to your friggin’ cars shipped out here. Block ’em at the MB/ONT border, same for GD cheese! It seems to work for beer. They aren’t built or made out here. Then we should block clear cut BC lumber products from BC, just because our trees are better trees….or something. Now that’s the way to run a country, eh? Then we can block non western produced chicken, eggs & pork crossing to markets, just because they’re “corporately farmed”, “managed trade”, or the pens are 1.5 inches too small for piggies. Whatever it takes to f&ck you up & boost our farmers! The CWB was a big FU from central Canada & look at the fight that took to get rid of it.

      I like Mr Trump. He’s pointing out our faults & prissy hypocrisies. Canadians are stupid is one. Nobody can defend our stupid trade policies, inter-provincially or internationally. The fwench labeling has to go, folks, plus “managed trade”. The only ones getting “managed” are the consumer on prices. I can’t wait for weed to go legal. That border will become an obstacle to a quick “in & out”.

  28. The joke of it is, even with the US dollar making things 30% more expensive, most things are still cheaper in the US.
    How much tax revenue are the federal and provincial governments losing because Canadians near the border fill up in the States?

    I’m just jealous – I live on Vancouver Island.

  29. Tonight’s reminder that the only thing making Toronto-Buffalo or Montreal-Burlington shopping trips worthwhile is an absurdly overvalued Canadian dollar propped up by Alberta oil exports.

    Kate has said that what Canada needs is a good old-fashioned famine. The loonie should be 60 cents US. Tops. Make central Canadians live within their means. Then maybe they’ll be less inclined for representatives who insult their best customer.

    1. A fun reading segment regarding the U.S. Canadian shoe trade in 1906.
      https://books.google.com/books?id=sywwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1826&lpg=PA1826&dq=canada+cowhide+trade+1911+1906&source=bl&ots=_qBbsw_H3m&sig=Si22_qwChnWaPkN0_Qsg85eWhj4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3ud_IoeHbAhVpqlkKHVhaDgAQ6AEISTAE#v=onepage&q=canada%20cowhide%20trade%201911%201906&f=false
      The song remains the same.
      Might I suggest these. (vol. min. 18/20) It’s all about marketing.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8b4xYbEugo
      (I suspect Kate has a pair.. er.. owns a .. well you know.)

  31. I can buy a turkey more cheaply in Port Huron when the sale price drops to $.99 a pound than anywhere on the Canadian side of the Bluewater Bridge. What’s really galling is that the turkey label indicates the bird was raised in Arkona, Ontario about 40 minutes east of Sarnia. It takes the turkey longer to get to the States than me.

  35. We just bought water meters for our domestic water system. Checked two Canadian distributors with the cheapest at $240 per meter. Bought the exact same model and brand in the USA at $80 CDN. I regularly buy landscape water equipment in the USA at 300% less money.

    1. We definitely get taken to the cleaners on many items. Some prices are the result of lack of competition, some are the result of cartels like the marketing boards, all have a higher cost of government through taxation built into the prices.

  36. I buy in the US when it works for me. Once there is about a 15% differential in the currencies you have to watch the price. It’s true US prices are generally lower but if you factor in exchange taxes and shipping….

    It’s not so much that Canadians are smuggling shoes, it’s the low limit we are allowed to bring in goods tax free. The border guards are there mostly to collect tax.

  37. Difficult to understand President Trump’s complaint if that is what it is. Merchandise sales would add to BOP, create jobs and generate local revenue. Border mall owners certainly are aware of this. As Lilley points out, if the shoes were manufactured in the US, most unlikely, the tariff would be zero, the only charge would be HST sales tax, part of Canada’s taxation system and not a tariff at all.

    1. Trump knows that his remarks are widely reported in Canadian media. He’s trying to get us to see how much our government rips us off on virtually everything we buy. There are tons of anecdotes just in this thread; I have many myself. My ex-wife loved to bake, and would make runs to Buffalo to come back with 40 lbs of butter, 10 dozen eggs, etc.

      And she shopped for a lot of clothes there, as well, but not because of price. She said the selection at Macy’s in Buffalo was better than the selection at the Bay or Eaton’s in Toronto, plus they had staff available to help her. Canadians in general are not well served by retail, compared to Americans.

      On a typical trip, she’d come back with about $500 worth of goods, and only occasionally would she be asked to stop and pay duty and taxes. That doesn’t include our vacations, where everyone would take their max $800 exemption. I figured we spent about $5-6k per year shopping in the US.

      So, quick back-of-the-envelope: 10 million households in Canada, assume only 10% cross-border shop, spend $5k annually = $5 billion in invisible trade. Now, in the context of $630 billion of combined cross-border trade, this might not seem like much, but in the context of the net difference of about $15 billion, it’s significant.

  39. You pay more here for everything, so we can ship $3.8 BILLION of virtue signaled, funny money outside the country, to pay for “girl’s education” in places like Botswana, Afghanistan, or Rohingya-ville.

    Our girls right here at home, must be “asking for too much”, like our veterans.

  40. Trump has this wrong but that is a moot point.
    The real issue here is that Canada has managed the trade file so poorly that we now find ourselves chirping at our best friend. Trump who could have cared less about canada has now decided to put us in our place.
    Why did it come to this? Because our unserious prime minister and his SJW minister of trade have put us directly into the line of fire.
    They have recklessly mismanaged this file. Their behavior has been negligent.
    Canada’s interest has not been well served.
    Bongo and freeland should be immediately removed. They are inept and dangerous .

    1. US shoes? Where exactly in the US is the state of Vietnam again? All my high priced US name brand shoes and work boots are labeled from there.

  42. i sell u s products on ebay and just about every canadian buyer asks me to classify it as a “gift” to beat the import duties

    1. We have a generous $20 by mail exception, but they usually don’t bother until around $100. There is NO exemption on day trips to the US of less than 24 hours, but it is up to the border guard upon return. Yes they know exactly how long you were in the US.

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