Toronto, ON – The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is warning of increased “supply chain disruptions” should the United States follow through on its recently announced cross-border vaccine mandate.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that beginning in “early January” of 2022, all inbound foreign national travelers — including truckers — must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide related proof of vaccination.
The announcement quickly drew criticism and concern among those who operate cross-border trucking businesses.
In fact, one top Canadian trucking executive asserted the mandate would result in a “disaster.”
Now, CTA is sounding the alarm on just how deeply the vaccination requirements will impact the supply chain that moves by truck — which accounts for approximately 70 percent of the nearly $650 billion in trade between the U.S. and Canada.
Currently, there are 120,000 Canadians who operate cross-border and 40,000 U.S. drivers moving north-south trade.
However, according to the CTA’s latest projections, almost one in four of these drivers will abandon cross-border operations should the vaccine mandate take effect early next year.
“CTA conservatively estimates that 20 percent of Canadian truck drivers crossing the border (22,000), and 40 percent of U.S. truck drivers (16,000), would almost immediately exit the Canada-US trade system should the vaccination mandate take effect in January 2022,” the group said this week.
Further, while CTA said it “strongly supports the use of vaccines,” it is imploring the Biden Administration and Canadian governmental leaders to “reexamine appropriate mandate timelines for cross-border truck drivers.”
Additionally, the group argued more time is also needed to develop a “seamless, mutual system of identification for drivers” in order to limit potential border delays when presenting their vaccination status at the border.
Despite warnings of “dire consequences” from some of North America’s leading trucking organizations, the White House continues to move full speed ahead on a range of vaccine requirements covering more than 100 million workers.
More dumb shit and the pile get’s bigger every day.
Ohhh……Canada. EH!