The Administration has made American manufacturing, shipbuilding, and supply chain resilience national priorities. The Great Lakes region is home to steel, autos, agriculture, energy infrastructure, defense suppliers, and advanced manufacturing. The St. Lawrence Seaway carries maritime commerce into that region.
Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz have reminded policymakers and the public that maritime transportation matters. Strategic waterways matter because transportation costs matter. Every additional cost imposed on cargo movement affects trade flows, investment decisions, and economic competitiveness.
One such cost receives far less attention closer to home. Canada collects tolls on cargo moving to and from U.S. Great Lakes ports, while the United States provides toll-free access through its portion of the same route.
Ocean vessels traveling between the Atlantic Ocean and U.S. Great Lakes ports must transit both U.S. and Canadian locks and channels. The United States and Canada built the St. Lawrence Seaway together. The United States has invested billions of dollars in the Seaway and Great Lakes navigation system and continues to do so through the construction of the new Soo Lock, one of the largest inland navigation infrastructure projects in the nation. Congress waived collection of the U.S. share of commercial tolls in 1986 and directed the federal government to pursue discussions with Canada to reduce or eliminate Seaway tolls. Four decades later, the United States continues to provide toll-free access through its portion of the system while Canada continues to collect its share.
That difference harms U.S. Great Lakes ports. Canada earns revenue from cargo moving to and from American ports while the United States provides access through its portion of the system without imposing a comparable charge. The revenue is small in the Canadian economy. The cost to vessel operators and cargo owners can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars per voyage.
The Seaway has physical limits, and not every vessel can use it. For vessels that can use the system, Canadian tolls increase the cost of reaching U.S. Great Lakes ports. Bulk commodities, steel, grain, project cargo, breakbulk cargo, and other industrial cargo already move through the Seaway on vessels built for its dimensions. Feeder-scale container service into the Great Lakes remains a practical growth opportunity. Canadian tolls add a cost that makes existing cargo harder to retain and new service harder to build.
Canadian tolls also make the route harder to sell. Tolls vary by vessel, cargo, and voyage. When a port cannot give a carrier a quick answer on the cost of reaching a Great Lakes destination, uncertainty becomes part of the barrier.
Shipyards require commercial vessel activity to support investment, workforce development, construction, conversion, and repair. Carriers require cargo volume to justify investment in new Great Lakes-capable vessels. Cargo that moves away from direct Great Lakes service reduces commercial demand for the maritime industrial base that the United States is trying to rebuild.
Seaway toll parity would complement existing U.S. maritime policy by improving the economics of cargo movement, thereby supporting American ports, American shipyards, American maritime labor, and investment in Great Lakes-capable vessels. Canadian tolls work against those goals. They make U.S. Great Lakes ports more expensive to serve and slow the development of a transportation system that should move American commerce more efficiently.
A nation serious about reindustrialization does not leave its industrial heartland at the far end of a toll road operated by another country.
Canadian Seaway tolls raise the cost of serving U.S. Great Lakes ports, manufacturers, farmers, and shipyards. The revenue generated for Canada is modest. The burden imposed on American commerce is substantially larger. Seaway toll parity should be placed on the agenda of the U.S.-Canada trade discussions now underway.