Steve Scherer and David Shepardson

OTTAWA/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Unvaccinated Canadian truckers reentering Canada from the United States should be tested for COVID-19. Quarantine must begin Jan. 15. This was Thursday’s announcement by the Canadian government. It came a day after Canada’s border agency had dropped this rule.

According to the Canadian Trucking Association, mandates in Canada and America will affect 10%-20% of Canadian truck drivers. This would mean that between 12,000-22,000 Canadian drivers and 40% (or 16,000 U.S. drivers) traveling into Canada could be affected. According to industry lobby groups, driver shortages could further fuel high inflation.

The Canadian Federal Government Ministers released a statement Thursday claiming that the Canadian Border Agency made an error when it stated those requirements had been dropped on Wednesday.

Beginning Saturday, unvaccinated foreign truckers cannot enter Canada. CTA warned that disruptions to supply chains can occur if the countries refuse exemptions.

Canada announced first the mandate to immunize truckers with vaccines in November.

Additionally, the United States requires foreign truck drivers to show proof that they have been immunized in order to be allowed into the country beginning Jan. 22, 2012.

It would mark the beginning of a policy that can limit trans-border trucking if both countries maintain their bans against unvaccinated drivers.

Bob Costello (a senior vice president at American Trucking Associations and chief economic officer) urged Washington and Ottawa leaders to reexamine these mandates and avoid further economic disruptions.

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.

Stephen Laskowski (president and chief executive at CTA), stated that he was asking the two countries to cooperate to eliminate their foreign vaccine mandates and find a more suitable date.

Canada’s headline inflation reached an 18-year high thanks to disruptions in the supply chain. In November, Canada experienced its highest inflation since 1991. And now, the Bank of Canada is indicating that they could increase interest rates as early as April.

Inflation in the United States rose in December at an unprecedented rate, with the highest annual growth in four decades.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s pandemic-related vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses, including for trucking companies with more than 100 employees. This is an independent measure to the border requirement.

The ATA and CTA both argue that trucking is a highly isolated industry, which has resulted in low rates of coronavirus infections among drivers.

The White House did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

($1 = 1.2482 Canadian dollars)