46 U.S.C. § 60507 — Suspension of free passage through Saint Marys Falls Canal

(a) Purpose. This section exists to secure reciprocal advantages for United States citizens, ports, and vessels. (b) General Authority. If the President is satisfied that U.S. vessels, or passengers or cargo being carried to a U.S. port, are being blocked from passing through a canal or lock connected to the Saint Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, or their connecting waterways — or are being burdened with tolls or other charges that are unreasonable compared to the free passage the Saint Marys Falls Canal allows vessels of every country — the President may respond by proclamation. The President may suspend the right of free passage through the Saint Marys Falls Canal for vessels owned by people from the country responsible for the prohibition, tolls, or burdens, and for passengers and cargo headed to that country's ports, even when they travel on U.S. vessels. The suspension lasts as long, and covers as much, as the President thinks is appropriate. (c) Imposition of Toll. (1) During a suspension, the President must set a toll — no more than $2 per ton of cargo and no more than $5 per passenger. (2) Exception: this toll cannot be charged on passengers or cargo landed at Ogdensburg, New York, or at any port west of Ogdensburg and south of a line running from New York's northern border through the Saint Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and their connecting channels, to Minnesota's northern border. (d) Collection of Toll. (1) The Secretary of Homeland Security writes the regulations for collecting the toll, and may require a vessel's master to swear a statement about how much and what kind of cargo is aboard, how many passengers there are, and where the passengers and cargo are headed. (2) Proof of landing: the Secretary may also require satisfactory proof that passengers and cargo actually landed at one of the exempt ports described in subsection (c)(2). Until that proof is given, the Secretary may assume they did not land there — meaning the toll that would otherwise apply becomes a lien the government can enforce against the vessel whenever it is found in U.S. waters.