(Washington) The United States is asking Canada to use “federal powers” to lift the blockades caused at the border of the two countries by convoys protesting against sanitary measures, White House officials said Thursday .
Posted at 7:48 p.m.
The US administration has offered “the full support” of the Department of Homeland Security, they said.
The White House specified that several American secretaries and senior advisers (Homeland Security, Transport) were in regular contact with their Canadian counterparts, and assured that the Biden administration was “mobilized 24 hours a day to put an end quickly” to a crisis which disturbs the American industry.
President Joe Biden is himself regularly informed, according to the same source.
The White House also specifies that it has been warned of the organization of a “freedom convoy” in Washington at the beginning of March, and ensures “to take all the necessary measures to ensure that this convoy does not disrupt commerce or transportation, and does not affect the work of the federal government, law enforcement, and relief.”
“We currently have no information that the mobilized individuals would be involved in an activity that would not fall under” freedom of expression as protected by the Constitution, however underlines the White House.
Three border axes between Canada and the United States are now blocked by demonstrators who contest the sanitary measures.
Several plants of automakers Ford, Stellantis and Toyota in North America had to temporarily close or operate at reduced capacity due to the lockdowns.