Winnipeg retiree can bring dream car home after classic was briefly caught in trade war

A Winnipeg retiree has narrowly dodged a roadblock that would have prevented him from getting the dream car he'd spent years saving for.

Pat Fletcher, 77, had to leave the 1968 Dodge Charger at the Canadian border earlier this month when he was told it had been slapped with a $46,000 levy because of the Canada-U.S. trade war.

He said he believed he'd done his due diligence to ensure the car was exempt from tariffs, but was still hit with a 25 per cent surtax when he tried to bring it into Canada.

"I almost blacked out, you know. It was terrible," he said.

Earlier this month, Ottawa imposed a 25 per cent counter-tariff on certain U.S. goods coming into Canada in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

On March 15 Fletcher met up on the U.S. side of the border with a trucking company that was hauling the vintage car he purchased 10 days prior for $98,000 US. He loaded it on his trailer and tried to come back into Canada, but border services told him to pull aside. 

He was given a paper slip with the sum of $46,636 written down — the tariff amount he was required to pay to import the vehicle from the U.S. into Canada.

"That's just too much money, that's just ridiculous," he said.

Fletcher was told he could pay the tariff with a credit card but didn't have a limit that high.

"I was desperate to get my car. I said I wasn't leaving without it. I was scared and not thinking right," he said.

'They're hard to find'

Border agents advised Fletcher to get a storage locker for the car in North Dakota, then head back to Canada until he could get the money to pay the tariff.

He slept in the car that night and the next day found a heated, covered garage in Pembina, N.D., where he could leave the vehicle.

Fletcher has had a vintage car hobby for decades, but owning the '68 Charger has a special meaning for him. He owned the same model when he was 17.

"They're hard to find. Nobody wants to sell them and the price is way up on them," he said. "I thought I'd never ever find [one]."

On Monday, Fletcher learned a border customs brokerage contacted the Emerson border crossing his behalf — and that he was now able to bring the vehicle home.

"Right now it's like 'Pinch me, is this real?'" he said, adding that it's "going to be awesome" bringing the car home.

'Incredibly confusing': Broker

Sarah Abbott, director of operations at Border Brokers, said that a "classic car" classification that could be used to exempt the vehicle from the tariffs was instead used to apply the duties.

She said the trade war has made things "incredibly confusing" at the border.

"There's been a lot of changes lately in legislation regarding the tariffs in place," Abbott said.

"Emerson came back to us. … They said they agreed with Border Brokers that this will be able to come in without those surtaxes applied as a classic car. It's not applicable, and that could change come April so we want to do this quickly."

More of Trump's tariffs are set come in effect on April 2. Canada said it's ready to hit back with another round of counter-tariffs.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said certain importers can request advanced rulings on tariff classifications, which helps determine whether they'll have to pay a levy.

Travellers can request adjustment

The federal agency also said travellers who feel their imported goods were improperly taxed at the border can request an adjustment.

For now, Fletcher is warning other collectors to be careful when purchasing a car or parts in the U.S.

"Trump, Canada and Mexico, they gotta get together and straighten it out because they're wrecking their own countries," he said.  "The three of us have been neighbours and friends for all these years, this great relationship. Why hit each other?"