A forward-looking book on Canadian trade policy - Redesigning Canadian Trade Policy for New Global Realities - published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy just won the Doug Purvis Memorial Prize.

eBay’s Public Policy Lab was among 31 authors – leading academics, government researchers and practitioners – to contribute a chapter to this book. eBay’s chapter Technology Enabled Small Business Trade in Canada presents research showing the trade patterns by small Canadian businesses using the eBay platform. The research shows the contrast between platform-enabled small businesses and traditional small businesses in terms of their internationalization. The majority of those empowered by technology have expanded their operations globally, whereas few traditional small businesses export, and those doing so serve only one or two more countries.

Harnessing these new and emerging trade patterns could make trade more inclusive. To that end, and building on calls to raise Canada’s low value threshold on duty-free imports, the chapter recommends that the Canadian government:

• Expand partnerships between customs agencies and businesses to update customs risk assessments and process goods faster at the border.
• Bring postal systems into mainstream trade policy discussions — since they are increasingly being used in international trade, simplifying and harmonizing them across countries is essential.
• Devise a technologically neutral financial services policy to support the growth of digital payment systems.

The eBay Public Policy Lab is proud to have contributed to this important book and the eBay Government Relations team will continue to look for opportunities to encourage the Canadian government to increase the de minimis threshold.