Canadian Minister of International Trade David Emerson charges that “Some of the rigid mindsets of the security establishment are really starting, I think, to threaten the special relationship that used to be there.”  He spoke of companies having to warehouse inventory on both sides of the border, “a just-in-case supply chain rather than just-in-time.”  It is a “thickening” of the border, in spite of the best political relationship between Canada and the United States for decades. In April, efforts to work out a project to do customs inspections in Canada prior to entry to the U.S. were abandoned because Washington wanted to fingerprint people in Canada, even people who would not enter the U.S.  In June, the U.S. imposed new taxes and inspection fees on trucks and boxcars from Canada.  Border wait times have sky-rocketed.  Transport Canada estimates that since 9/11 U.S. and Canadian security measures have cost the Canadian transport industry $500 million. Along the Mexican border, a security fence is being constructed, and tightened cross-border controls are affecting local commerce in U.S. border towns.  One local mayor commented that the American government is “afraid of Mexicans and Muslims.”