TORONTO(Washington Insider Magazine) – The Biden administration asked Prime Minister Trudeau’s government to utilize federal authorities to ease a truck blockage by Canadians opposing the country’s Covid-19 regulations, which prompted auto factories on both sides of the border to close down or reduce output.
For the fourth day in a row, trucks in the Freedom Convoy shut the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, slowing the movement of car parts and other goods between the two nations.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to the White House, met with their Canadian colleagues and encouraged them to assist in settling the deadlock.
Late Thursday, Trudeau had a virtual meeting with Canada’s opposition leaders and claimed he talked with Windsor’s mayor. On both sides of the border, he claims, it is wreaking havoc on workers and economies.
Officials in the United States prepared for the prospect of similar truck-borne rallies motivated by the Canadians, and authorities in Belgium and Paris outlawed road blockades to prevent similar disturbances.
In a statement to state and local law enforcement agencies, the US Department of Homeland Security stated it has received allegations that truckers are intending to “possibly block roads in major metropolitan cities” in protest of vaccination mandates and other concerns.
According to a copy of Tuesday’s bulletin acquired by The Associated Press, the convoy may start in Southern California this weekend, potentially affecting traffic around the Super Bowl, and arrive in Washington in March in time for the State of the Union speech.
According to the White House, the agency is “surging additional staff” to the Super Bowl in case of an emergency.
The Ambassador Bridge is the main U.S.-Canadian border crossing, handling 25% of all traffic between the two nations, and the blockade’s impacts were seen quickly there.
Trudeau has been consistent in his opposition to the repeal of vaccination regulations, including one that requires all truckers entering the country to be fully vaccinated. However, because an estimated 90% of the country’s truckers have already been immunized, some conservatives have urged the prime minister to abandon the mandate, according to NBC NEWS.
The blockade has come at a horrible moment for the car industry in the United States. Because of a global scarcity of computer chips, manufacturers have been forced to temporarily halt manufacturing, new vehicle supplies are already low across the country.
