WINDSOR, Ontario/OTTAWA/WASHINGTON Feb 11 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday “quick action” to enforce the law against protesters who have blocked a key U.S. trade corridor and damaged auto production in both nations, the White House said.
Truckers angered by coronavirus mandates began occupying Canada’s capital last month before crowding dozens of vehicles on Monday near Ontario’s Ambassador Bridge, North America’s busiest land border crossing and a choke point for Detroit’s carmakers.
Canada’s Ontario province declared a state of emergency on Friday and threatened to fine and jail protesters if they don’t leave.
Piling on to earlier calls for action by U.S. officials and business leaders, Biden expressed his concerns over plant closures and production slowdowns during the phone call with Trudeau, the White House said in a statement.
“The Prime Minister promised quick action in enforcing the law, and the President thanked him for the steps he and other Canadian authorities are taking to restore the open passage of bridges to the United States,” it added.
The “Freedom Convoy” protest, launched by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, is also occupying areas outside government buildings in the capital city of Ottawa and has blocked two smaller U.S. crossings.
The protest has inspired similar convoys and plans in France, New Zealand, Australia and the United States, whose Department of Homeland Security is working to ensure that a “Freedom Convoy” event due in early March in Washington, D.C., “does not disrupt lawful trade.”
Biden’s administration had earlier urged Canada to use federal powers to ease the Ambassador Bridge blockade, a step Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has not taken. Trudeau said on Friday his government was not contemplating calling in the military over the protests.
