Pressure to end vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers builds

Dozens of members of Congress are asking President Joe Biden to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandates on cross-border truck drivers.

Earlier this week, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., drafted a letter and encouraged his colleagues to sign on. The Feb. 17 letter to President Biden, which also was supported by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the American Trucking Associations, included signatures from 64 members of Congress.

The United States and Canada each have mandates blocking unvaccinated foreign nationals, including truck drivers, from crossing the border. Canada’s mandate, which requires U.S. truckers to show proof of vaccination before entering the country, went into effect Jan. 15. The U.S. mandate, which requires foreign cross-border truckers to be vaccinated, started Jan. 22.

“The mandates are causing major disruptions to the trucking industry and triggering ripple effects through the U.S. economy,” the Rosendale letter stated.

“The decision by your administration and the Canadian government is not only impacting truck drivers, but it also hurts American agriculture and countless industries across our nation. Many farmers and ranchers rely on Canada for agricultural inputs and other products. Families, in northern states especially, rely on Canada for fuel such as propane to heat their home this winter. The recently implemented vaccine requirement is disrupting the transport of essential products to the American people who rely on them.”

In January, the Canadian Trucking Alliance estimated that tens of thousands of Canadian and American truckers would stop hauling freight across the border because of the vaccine mandates.

“We thank Rep. Rosendale for standing up against an arbitrary mandate that makes it harder for truckers to earn a living and disrupts the movement of goods,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “Truckers are essential workers and face enough challenges without being imposed upon with such intrusive requirements.”

A news release about Rosendale’s letter and the list of the representatives who signed it can be found here.

The letter is another indication of the growing support to exempt truck drivers from the cross-border vaccine mandate.

Earlier this week, a group of U.S. governors and Canadian premiers wrote to Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to remove the mandate for truckers.

OOIDA wrote to the two leaders on Feb. 7, pointing out that commercial drivers spend the majority of their time alone in their vehicle and that there has been no evidence that truck drivers present a higher risk of spreading the virus.

Before the mandates took effect, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and 13 other senators asked Biden to establish a reciprocal policy with Canada that allowed cross-border truckers to be exempt. LL