The U.S. senators from New York are urging Canada to raise a threshold for duty-free purchases by its citizens to boost shopping excursions to places like Buffalo, Watertown, Niagara Falls and Plattsburgh.
In a letter to the Canadian ambassador, Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand say raising Canada's threshold from $20 per shipment up to the U.S. level of $200 for imported goods shipped home would have "a significant and positive impact" on U.S.- Canada trade.
Schumer points out that a Canadian family buying $100 of clothes in Buffalo and shipping them home faces a duty of about $22.
"Canada has not been as generous as it should be when their shoppers go to New York."
Schumer says an American family, doing the opposite in Toronto, would pay no duty.
© 2015 AP
