Share By Theunis Bates, Editor at LinkedIn News
Updated 26 minutes ago
A convoy of truckers protesting Covid restrictions in Canada is now snarling traffic at the Michigan border and causing costly shutdowns of auto plants in the U.S. and Canada. Some 100 demonstrators are blockading the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — a crucial trade link that accounts for $100 billion in annual trade between Canada and the U.S. Automakers use the bridge to ferry parts and vehicles between plants on both sides of the border. But with parts delayed by the protest, General Motors, Toyota, and Ford have been forced to cut production at several facilities in the U.S. and Canada.
- The Department of Homeland Security has warned that a planned U.S. trucker protest could disrupt the Super Bowl this weekend as well President Biden’s March 1 State of the Union address.
- Copycat convoys have formed in New Zealand, Australia, France and elsewhere. The French government says it will not allow a “Freedom convoy” to enter Paris.
- The original “Freedom convoy” has jammed the streets of downtown Ottawa for two weeks.
Dean Barber• 3rd+Solutions in the Making4h • 4 hours ago
Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” protests by truckers against coronavirus mandates could hurt the auto industry now that the demonstrations have spread and blocked key U.S.-Canada border crossings, the White House said Wednesday.
The horn-blaring protesters have clogged Canada’s capital, Ottawa, with idling trucks and other vehicles since late January, but this week truckers started obstructing border crossings, including one linking Windsor, Canada, with Detroit — a key supply route for automakers that carries 25 percent of all trade between the United States and Canada.
Ford and Toyota said they were pausing or reducing production at several factories in Canada. General Motors canceled a Wednesday shift at a Lansing, Michigan, plant.
