Steve Scherer

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – The COVID-19 vaccination requirements for foreign truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. Border could still cause disruptions in supply chains if the two countries don’t allow exemptions to be granted. This was the warning from the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), on Thursday.

Canada ended Wednesday’s mandate that Canadian truckers return from the United States with a vaccination. It was due to start on Saturday. But, unvaccinated Canadians will still have to be turned back at Canada’s border.

Without providing any details, the United States indicated that foreign truck drivers would need to present proof of immunization to be allowed to enter the United States beginning Jan. 22.

If both countries maintain their bans on foreign unvaccinated drivers, then thousands of people will be removed from the roads. This is the first ever policy change since the outbreak to limit trans-border trucking.

Unvaccinated members of my family will be barred from entering the United States starting after 22nd March. “And the Americans won’t be able into here if their members are not vaccinated,” Stephen Laskowski of the CTA president and chief executive, stated to Reuters.

He said, “So, we’re asking the two countries to cooperate to remove their foreign (vaccine mandate) and search for a better time to do this.”

More than two-thirds (C$650 billion, $521 billion) of goods that are traded between Canada and America each year is carried by the trucking sector.

CTA projects that mandates would affect 10%-20%, which is between 12,000-22,000 Canadian truck driver drivers, as well as 40% (or some 16,000) of U.S. truck driver who travel into Canada.

Canada’s headline inflation reached an 18-year peak in November due to supply chain disruptions. The Bank of Canada indicated that it may raise interest rates as a counter to rising prices by April.

Inflation in the United States rose in December at an unprecedented rate, with an increase of nearly 40% year-over-year.

Laskowski stated that he has been in touch with American Trucking Associations and neither the CTA nor the ATA know how the U.S. mandate is going to be applied. An immediate response was not received from the ATA to a request for comments.

When asked about possible exemptions for foreign drivers, Canada’s border agency (and the ministry of safety) did not respond immediately.

The White House refused to comment immediately.

($1 = 1.2482 Canadian dollars)