Trucker blockade turns COVID-restricted trickle of U.S.-Canada border traffic to almost none at all

The outlook had already been bleak at Mason Peters' border-town business in Pembina, N.D., that serves as a shipping address and warehouse for goods that Canadians have purchased from U.S. companies.

Mike's Parcel, which Peters and his wife bought in 2019, had lost some 60% of its business since March 2020. Pandemic restrictions - from border closures to restrictive Canadian COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandates - slowed leisure traffic at the state's busiest border crossing at the nexus of North Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba to a trickle. Peters estimates he's lost $250,000 in gross revenue the past two years. And the Canadian-born Peters has hardly been able to visit family members north of the line.

Then, in a continuation of the trucker protests against COVID-19 restrictions that have roiled Canada for weeks, 50 or so trucks parked themselves on the Canadian side of the border last week, blocking all commercial traffic from crossing into the United States.

https://www.startribune.com/trucker-blockade-turns-covid-restricted-trickle-of-traffic-to-almost-none-at-all/600147152/