CTA called the U.S. pause on truck driver visas a wake-up call for Canada

In August 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the U.S. was immediately pausing the issuance of all visas for truck drivers that allow them to operate in the U.S.

The move followed a fatal crash in Florida in which three people were killed after their vehicle hit the side of a trailer during an illegal U-turn. The truck driver was allegedly in the U.S. illegally but had obtained a commercial driver's licence in California. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said early federal investigations had found serious red flags in how states were issuing those licences.

The Canadian response

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) said the visa restrictions did not apply to the visas used by drivers in Canada. But it said Canada should treat the events as a wake-up call to clean up its own system, or risk similar restrictions later.

• The CTA urged federal, provincial and territorial governments to focus on the integrity of commercial driver licensing, citing CBC reporting from 2024 and June 2025 on rigged testing, forged documents and bought licences.
• It said that in July it had given deputy ministers, Transport Canada and the Privy Council Office a step-by-step plan to improve truck safety and oversight, at the request of the transport minister.
• It repeated its call for a Known Employer Program at the front end of the immigration process, to cut non-compliant ownership groups off from immigration programs.
• It asked for labour, immigration, tax and police resources to be posted at inspection stations and other key points on the highway network.

The alliance noted that U.S. safety data rank compliant Canadian cross-border fleets among the safest carriers on U.S. roads, and warned that applying the policy broadly would hurt legitimate operators who follow the rules.