Our economic woes are not going away anytime soon, and President Biden seems to be doing his best to prolong them. New restrictions on travel to the United States, especially for the transit of cargo, coupled with a newly emerged strain of COVID, may cause the frail economy to spiral into 2022. The White House’s policy errors will further exacerbate the delicate national recovery from the pandemic and become the greatest contributing factor to a worsening of our supply chain crisis and inflation.
While information surrounding the omicron variant is still emerging, if officials respond with more spending and lockdowns in the name of “emergency measures” it could lead to further pain for American households and a worsening supply situation — at a time when our nation simply cannot afford it.
With the holidays around the corner, Americans are experiencing inflated prices, goods shortages, and long shipping times. Right now would be the perfect time to simplify the transport of needed goods from the United States’s No. 1 trading partner: Canada. More than $300 billion in truck freight came into the U.S. from Canada in 2020, and the loss of any significant portion of this will further hike prices and cause more empty shelves. Canadian and international goods arrive through our border crossings, and the White House is imposing a stiff travel restriction for all residents entering the country. Not only do tourists and visitors need to show proof of vaccination, but so do truck drivers. The new regulation, taking effect on Jan. 22, will further ensnare the arrival of both raw materials and finished goods into the country.
Considering that more than half of the freight entering the U.S. from Canada comes via truck, the effects will be immediate. Approximately 20 percent of Canada’s truckers are unvaxxed. Even worse, it comes a full year into the Biden administration and the general rollout of vaccines. The White House is consciously breaking its promise to shut down the virus and not the economy.
thehill.com/opinion/finance/584021-bidens-proposals-spark-phase-2-of-supply-chain-crisis
h/t SG