"Freedom truck convoy" has been promoted by Fox News personalities and attracted support from many US Republicans, including former president Donald Trump.
Truck blockades of Canada's capital and US border crossings, including the economically vital bridge to Detroit, have forced the shutdown of a Ford plant as the company warned the protests could have widespread implications for the North American auto industry.
The blockade by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day on Wednesday at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while US-bound traffic was still moving.
The bridge carries 25 percent of all trade between the two countries, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.
Ford said late on Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule.
GM and Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, reported normal operations on Wednesday, although Stellantis had to cut shifts short the previous day at its Windsor minivan plant.
"This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border," Ford said in a statement.
"We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have a widespread impact on all automakers in the US and Canada."
A growing number of Canadian provinces have moved to lift some of their precautions as the Omicron surge levels off, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the measures the federal government is responsible for, including the one that has angered many truck drivers: a rule that took effect January 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.
Not backing down
Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada's Covid-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself.
"The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90 percent, ensured that this pandemic didn't hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere in the world," Trudeau said in Parliament.
While protesters have been calling for Trudeau's removal, most of the restrictive measures around the country have been put in place by provincial governments.
Those include requirements that people show proof-of-vaccination "passports" to enter restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and sporting events.
As for the Ambassador Bridge blockade, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said police had not removed people for fear of inflaming the situation.
But he added: "We're not going to let this happen for a prolonged period of time."
"I'll be brutally honest: You are trying to have a rational conversation, and not everyone on the ground is a rational actor," Dilkens said.
"Police are doing what is right by taking a moderate approach, trying to sensibly work through this situation where everyone can walk away, nobody gets hurt, and the bridge can open."
Protests denounced
The "freedom truck convoy" has been promoted by Fox News personalities and attracted support from many US Republicans, including former president Donald Trump, who called Trudeau a "far-left lunatic" who has "destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates."
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the US, but Canadians have largely supported them.
Canada's Covid-19 death rate is one-third that of the US
About 90 percent of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests.
The US has the same vaccination rule for truckers entering the country, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
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