Why Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ truckers, whose protest has blocked trade with the U.S., can’t just be towed away

“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, autoworkers, suppliers, communities, and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement on Wednesday. Toyotasuspended production at three Canadian plants the same day, owing to parts shortages caused by the trucker protests.

“We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. And Canada,” Ford Motor said.

Ordinarily, $350 million in goods flows across the Ambassador Bridge every day, including auto components and agricultural goods. Unblocking that vital economic artery is now a priority for authorities in Ontario. Traffic has resumed on the lane taking drivers from the U.S. Into Canada, but freight is flowing at a fraction of its usual rate and the way out of Canada remains blocked.

But moving the scores of trucks blocking the throughfare is much easier said than done.

In downtown Ottawa—the capital of Canada and a major city in Ontario province—truckers have parked themselves in protest for roughly two weeks. Areas of the city center, now known as the “red zone,” are blocked off by huge 18-wheelers positioned across the main streets. So far, police have been unable to move them.

“If you know anything about truck air brakes, once you pull that button, all 18 wheels are locked,” one truck driver engaged in the protest told CBC on Wednesday. “Nothing can move it, except maybe a big wrecker. And no wrecker worth his salt is going to come anywhere near this, because they’re on our side.”

According to local media reports, even though some tow truck companies have the tools and machinery necessary to remove a large semi, few are willing to take the job. Some tow operators seem to be sympathetic to the trucker movement, while others simply don’t want to risk getting injured if protesters attempt to stop them from towing rigs away.

CBC reports that hooking up a semi to a tow truck takes roughly 30 minutes, but in Ottawa the operation would likely take longer since most of the commercial trucks are jammed together at odd angles. Clearing the hundreds of rigs littered across the city could take days.

A clearing operation on Ambassador Bridge should be easier than in downtown Ottawa, in part because the trucks are different.

“If you look at pictures…the vast majority of vehicles are not semitrailers or semitrucks that you would expect to see,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told local news on Wednesday. “They’re pickup trucks.”

A pickup truck is much easier to tow than a semi and can be done by a regular tow truck. But according to police, there are over 70 vehicles blockading the bridge, and clearing a route would still take hours, maybe days, if the drivers are noncompliant.

Dilkens says the police are currently working with protesters to negotiate a partial reopening of the bridge on the Windsor side, whereby some lanes are cleared, and others are retained in protest. But, Dilkens says, a “full closure, a hard stop at the border like is happening now, that is not going to be tolerated for very long.”

Although the “Freedom Convoy” movement has dragged on for nearly two weeks so far, truckers might have gone a bridge too far by blocking a major, international economic pipeline. Now governments on both sides of the border are anxious to see the situation resolved.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House is “watching this very closely.” Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the “illegal occupation” of the bridge was “unacceptable” and “must stop.”

“The Ambassador Bridge is one of the most vital trade corridors in our country,” Ford said on Wednesday. “The damage this is causing to our economy, to people’s jobs and their livelihoods is totally unacceptable. We cannot let this continue.”