Senate Republicans are calling on President Joe Biden to reverse a requirement mandating that truckers crossing from the United States into Canada be vaccinated, warning that the rule could hurt commerce with the northern nation.
While the federal and military requirements have gone generally unchallenged, the private sector mandate has been far more of a headache for the administration.
Capitalizing on this momentum against Biden’s diktats, Senate Republicans are now looking to strike down Biden’s vaccine mandate for international truckers.
“Trucking is the largest mode of surface trade with Canada; every day, there are approximately 14,000 total truck entries along the U.S.-Canada border hauling more than $846 million of goods. Any disruptions to the continuity of U.S.-Canada trade would likely have far-reaching consequences that extend beyond our shared border,” the letter begins.
The senators note that Canada is preparing the same policy, and warn that the policy, whether originating in Washington or Ottawa, poses a risk to continued trade.
This is especially dangerous, they argue, given the strain already being experienced by international supply chains; These supply chain issues have contributed to rising consumer prices amid runaway inflation, and the senators warn that these will be exacerbated by the policy.
“Despite the good intentions underpinning this action, we fear that the imposition of vaccination mandates as a requirement to cross the land border will exacerbate the existing challenges facing our freight networks and supply chain, and could further fuel inflation and rising prices on top of what Americans are already seeing,” the senators wrote.
“Our nation’s truck drivers worked diligently during the pandemic to facilitate critical cross-border freight movements that helped to feed and clothe American communities,” they added. “Now, implementing these policies could cost them their jobs.”
“Since the onset of the pandemic, drivers have traversed the vast expanses of the U.S. and Canada safely, with a low COVID-19 transmission rate, due to the fact that commercial truck drivers spend the majority of their workday alone in the cab and outside,” they wrote.
“We urge your Administration to reengage our northern neighbor and leading export partner to establish a reciprocal policy for cross-border truck drivers that does not include a vaccine mandate and will not disrupt the North American supply chain,” they concluded.
Daines was joined by colleagues Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), James Risch (R-Idaho), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.).
Biden has defended his vaccine mandates and has yet to accede to any Republican requests to reverse them. Challenges to each of these has come from the courts, from states, or from Congress; Thus, Biden is unlikely to meet the request.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been even more liberal with his use of vaccine mandates, and is also unlikely to put much stock into the requests of foreign lawmakers.
In light of this, any major challenges to the trucker mandate will likely have to originate in the courts on either side of the border.
