Did Joe Biden Pressure Trudeau to Shut Down ‘Freedom Convoy’ Truckers?

Joe Biden and others in his administration allegedly pressured the Canadian government to shut down the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests in February.

“According to testimony in the public inquiry into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergency Act against the trucker-led protest against lockdown restrictions in February, U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg, among others, urged the Canadian government to clamp down on the peaceful protests,” Breitbart reports.

On February 14th, Trudeau took the unprecedented action of invoking the Emergencies Act to clear the truck blockades in downtown Ottawa.

Trudeau used extreme, authoritarian measures such as freezing the bank accounts of protesters and ordering the forceful removal of trucks from the streets.

The decision to implement the Emergencies Act came just three days after Trudeau spoke over the phone with Biden, according to the inquiry.

WATCH:

Lawyer Alan Honner: “And that telephone call with Biden, it happened on a Friday and by the Monday the Emergencies Act was invoked”

Chrystia Freeland: “That’s true."

So Joe Biden pushed Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies ACT. pic.twitter.com/NHoprtp3q3

— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) November 25, 2022

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explains his February 11 phone call with US President Joe Biden. Trudeau told Biden that there was amplification of the protest from the American "politicosphere" and there was a significant amount of donated funds coming from the United States. pic.twitter.com/2ciiJOcvlT

— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) November 25, 2022

Politico reported:

With blockades at Canada-U.S. borders choking supply chains, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and top government officials scrambled to ease heightened anxiety in Washington.

The revelations were revealed in testimony and documents tabled Thursday at a public inquiry into the federal government’s decision to use emergency powers to end the ‘Freedom Convoy’ blockades and clear a weeks-long occupation of downtown Ottawa that started in January 2022.

“I could see for the first time this amber light flashing,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told the Public Order Emergency Commission.

The inquiry is required by law as a result of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act on Feb. 14 to end the protests.

Powers under the act were used to freeze the bank accounts, ban travel to protest sites and compel trucks to tow vehicles blocking streets. The commission must determine whether the Liberal government was justified in using those measures.

Freeland told the inquiry about a Feb. 10 phone call from Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council and Biden’s top economic adviser, who expressed urgent concern about the border blockades.

“They are very, very, very worried,” Freeland wrote in an email to her staff. “If this is not sorted out in the next 12 hours, all of their northeastern car plants will shut down.”

During the public inquiry, Freeland said that the protests made her concerned that Canada was “in the process of doing long-term and possibly irreparable harm to our trading relationship with the United States,” explaining that there were many Democrats and Republicans in Congress who could use the event to introduce more protectionist trade barriers against Canada.

On Thursday, she said that the White House had also relayed concerns over Canadian protesters blocking the Ambassador Bridge which connects Canada to Detroit and serves as a key border crossing for automakers.

Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra also claimed that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made the “unusual” step of calling him to question whether there was “a plan to resolve” the protests.

Appearing before the inquiry on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his use of the emergency powers by invoking the potential of violence and death at the largely peaceful protests: “When there’s a national emergency and serious threats of violence to Canadians, and you have a tool that you should use, how would I explain it to the family of a police officer who was killed?