I mean, say, you want a really nice camera, or a drone, or maybe a gaming laptop, and since those things are made in China, they are too expensive to buy right now in the US, since tariffs are over 100%. So you just go to Canada, buy the thing, unpack it from the packaging, and pretend like its just personal items. Just like a smartphone.
AFIAK, border agents usually don’t ask if you bought your phone in the US or from outside, they shouldn’t ask about other personal electronics, right?
I did that once, when the Nexus phones weren’t available in Switzerland but they were in Germany. I ordered it to a location close to the border that specifically offers a postal address as a service and went to pick it up.
The correct thing to do would have been to go to the border agents, get a confirmation that I’m bringing the merchandise out of the country and pay the Swiss VAT. With the confirmation I could theoretically get the VAT back from the seller I paid it to. Except that was Google and they weren’t intending to sell it for export, so I doubt they would have helped with that.
What I did was unpack the phone, throw away the packaging, put my old phone in one jeans pocket and my new one in the other, and drive back over the boarder. Having two phones isn’t that weird, so I thought I could get away with claiming them as personal items if I was asked. But I wasn’t even stopped (they only do sampling at the crossing) so it was easy. But it was technically smuggling. Anything over 300 CHF needs to be declared and VAT paid, the phone was around 400 €.
My mom once went clothes shopping to Austria and didn’t declare them. The border guard asked what she bought. She claimed clothes, but not over the limit. He was like no way, I know that brand, they must be worth more, checked the stuff, and discovered it was worth too much. She had to pay VAT plus a pretty decent fine.
I only crossed the US Canadian border once in each direction, but to me it seemed like they were way more strict and thorough than here in Europe within Schengen. So I’d be scared I think. But overall I still think your plan could work if you’re careful with it. Maybe gaming laptop would be suspicious if you went for a one day trip, would be better if it was longer. But a phone not really.
It’s been years since I’ve crossed the Canada/USA border, so things may be different today. But when I went, the Canada side was more concerned about smuggled weapons, while the USA side was more concerned about smuggled drugs. Still, it doesn’t take much to trigger a border patrol search.
Apparently if you go from New Brunswick in the morning, spend the day driving through Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont, and cross into Quebec the next day, that’s suspicious enough to get detained for several hours and to have your entire car searched at the border. To me it just made sense to do a straight line drive through those states, since staying inside Canada between those two points would have been a much longer, more convoluted route. Silly me, being logical about my route without considering how others break international law.
People in border towns are always on alert for people walking remote roads, hitchhikers, etc. The border strip itself is cleared and monitored with remote cameras, drones, patrols on horseback and ATVs, etc.
My wife and I were bored and it was raining in northern NH so we decided to explore the far north end of NH. Then we decided “Since we are this close to the border lets go to Canada.” We told the border officer that we were going for the day for lunch and he paused for a sec then waved us through. lol We ended up eating in a Greek restaurant and found out they still smoked in restaurants in Quebec.