The US asks Trudeau to intervene in the blockades of truckers on the Canadian border

The United States on Thursday asked Canada use its “federal powers” ​​to crack down on trucker protests against anti-Covid-19 restrictions already blocking three border crossings, which has spurred similar movements in countries including France, Belgium and New Zealand.

Four days after the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, which links the province of Ontario, in Canada, with the state of Detroit, in the United States, another border crossing was targeted by Canadian protesters: the Emerson, which connects Manitoba with Dakota del North.

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“A protest involving a large number of farm vehicles and equipment blocks the Emerson port of entry,” Manitoba Police said on their Twitter account.

A third crossing with the United States in the western province of Alberta has been blocked for days by trucks and protesters.

The protesters, led by truckers, have been in the streets for two weeks and the conflict is already disrupting mainly the auto industry on both sides of the border.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demanded an end to the demonstrations. “It’s time for this to end because it harms Canadians,” he said, assuring that he works with the provinces to get out of the quagmire.

Meanwhile, Washington asked Ottawa to use its “federal powers” to end the protest and offered its “full assistance,” White House officials reported Thursday, also assuring that the Biden administration is “mobilized 24 hours a day to quickly put an end to the crisis.

Considering that the situation represents a “national crisis”, the mayor of the city of Windsor, Drew Dilkens, announced his intention to “expel” the protesters “to allow the safe and efficient movement of goods across the border”, if a court allows it.

“The economic damage that this occupation causes to international trade (…) must end,” he added.

Protesters hold flags and signs on Parliament Hill, as truckers and supporters continue to protest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination mandates, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo: REUTERS/Lars Hagberg). (LARS HAGBERG/)

hit to the economy

Concern has grown in recent days as protesters, by blockading the Ambassador Bridge, hit a nerve center for the auto industry, forcing giants like Ford, Stellantis and Toyota to temporarily suspend or slow production lines at several plants.

The highway is a crucial gateway for auto industries in neighboring nations, where parts and components can cross the bridge as many as six to seven times, said Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University.

More than 40,000 commuters, tourists and truckers carrying US$323 million worth of goods cross the bridge daily.

The local police explained again that “it was not in a position” to “stop” the demonstration without reinforcements, since “they do not have sufficient resources” to “prevent the supply of gasoline to the trucks” that block the streets, nor to “make arrests” explained his boss, Peter Sloly.

In fact, the police have only made two arrests since Wednesday, rising to 25 since the start of the movement.

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” began in January in western Canada, fueled by truckers who refuse mandatory vaccination or testing to cross the border into the United States.

But then the movement led to a broader protest against all anti-Covid health measures and, in some quarters, against the Trudeau government.

Dozens of chambers of commerce and industry associations in Canada and the United States have demanded that the bridge be cleared.

“As our economies emerge from the shocks of the pandemic, we cannot allow any group to undermine cross-border trade,” they said.

Canadian Association of Automobile Manufacturers President Brian Kingston has warned that the Ambassador Bridge blockade is “threatening fragile supply chains that were already under pressure”.

international contagion

The trucking movement even expanded to other countries around the world, from New Zealand to France and Belgium.

In France, thousands of Canadian trucker-inspired protesters plan to converge on Paris on Friday night, with some set to move on to Brussels on Monday. Several convoys left for the capital after leaving French cities such as Nice, Bayonne or Perpignan.

The Paris police prefecture announced that it will apply “a specific device” from Friday to Monday “to prevent the blockade” of the French capital, stressing that the prohibition of “convoys” will govern.

Meanwhile, the Brussels mayor’s office officially prohibited this Thursday the holding of the “Freedom Convoys” demonstration scheduled for the weekend with a blockade in the city to protest against sanitary restrictions, and ordered special measures.

On Thursday, in central Wellington, police officers and anti-vaccine protesters staged clashes outside the New Zealand Parliament, which ended with a dozen arrested.

There are still some 400 vehicles parked in front of the Canadian prime minister’s offices, amid barbecues, bonfires and music.

Camping near Parliament next to his vehicle, truck driver Lloyd Brubacher, a native of Ontario, was blunt: “I’m not going to move anywhere,” he told AFP.

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Source: Elcomercio