A new report by online retailer eBay is calling for the federal government to remove barriers to the free flow of goods across the country’s borders.

The Commerce 3.0 – Canada report suggests the Canadian government can help drive export activity among small businesses by raising the import duty exemption threshold from C$20 to C$200. Additional report highlights include:

• 99.5% of tech-enabled Canadian businesses export as compared to only 10.4% of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses
• 57% of traditional Canadian exporters trade only with the U.S. which the companies in this study trade with an average of 19 countries
• 14% increase in cross-border sales from 2008-2013 for technology-enabled Canadian businesses
• 26% of SME’s engaged in international trade significantly outperform their market versus only 13% of SME’s who are solely focused on domestic selling

In addition to import duty exemption threshold recommendations, the report makes additional policy recommendations aimed at simplifying customs processes for small, technology-enabled businesses.

Full report: Commerce 3.0: How Technology is Empowering Canadian Entrepreneurs to Grow Globally