Report: President Biden tried to get Canadian government to shut down Freedom Convoy

According to a new Politico report, the Biden administration pressed the Canadian government to put an end to the Freedom Convoy earlier this year in order to protect the trade relationship between the two countries.

Thousands of Canadian truckers blocked supply routes and choked trading as they protested COVID-19 measures and restrictions in January.

In a report published this week, Politico revealed that the Biden administration launched a concerted effort at that time to get Canadian officials to end the Freedom Convoy protest and resume normal trading over the northern border, including several calls to Canadian leadership from multiple members of the US government, including Biden himself.

Testimony by the involved Canadian officials revealed the White House’s heightened concern over the blockades at the border, and described how the US had pressured them to put an end to the protest just days before Canada invoked the Emergencies Act, allowing the government to cut off access to protesters’ bank accounts and have their trucks towed if they were blocking public streets.

Canada’s Transport Minister, Omar Alghabra, said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called him that week and asked for details on how the Canadian government planned on reining in the convoy.

In separate phone calls, President Biden urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to act to end the protest, and National Economic Council Director and Biden advisor Brian Deese pressed Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freedland to get the protest under control for fear that US “all of [the US’] northeastern car plants will shut down” if supply lines were not cleared. 

Freedland revealed she had worried at the time that the convoy would severely damage US-Canada relations long-term. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to appear later this week to testify about the implementation of the Emergencies Act.