Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemns ‘incredibly damaging’ Canadian trucker blockade

"It's never been just a Canada issue. It's been hurting us in Michigan from day one," Whitmer told CNN.

"Every minute this goes on it’s lost wages, it's damage to our businesses," she added.

"This is an illegal blockade. And while people have the right to protest that they don't have a right to illegally block the largest land border crossing in North America."

"Hundreds of millions of dollars a day are being lost, our Michiganders who are hard working simply want to show up to their job, and they're out of work right now. This is having a huge impact.

Whitmer continued on to state that they are pushing the Canadian government to end the blockade "swiftly and safely," because the blockade is "incredibly damaging to our economy and to our people."

On Thursday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson talked about unconfirmed claims that Whitmer has offered Canadian authorities the use of heavy equipment to move trucks participating in the Freedom Convoy protests in Canada off the Ambassador Bridge.

"There is a report just that we can't verify it, but that the governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer has offered Canadian authorities, the use of 'heavy equipment to move trucks off the bridge' that connects Windsor Ontario with Michigan," Carlson said.

"If that's true, how is that not interfering in the democracy of another country?" Carlson asked.

"A United States elected official offering to shut down a human rights protest in another country, that's consistent with our democratic principles? We're going to work to find out if that's in fact happened," he said.

Whitmer issued a statement on Thursday calling for Canadian authorities to open the bridge, which has been blocked for a large portion of the week.

"My message is simple: reopen traffic on the bridge," Whitmer said. "The blockade is having a significant impact on Michigan’s working families who are just trying to do their jobs. Our communities and automotive, manufacturing, and agriculture businesses are feeling the effects. It’s hitting paychecks and production lines. That is unacceptable."