Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City have locked out more than 9,000 of their workers when lengthy collective bargaining negotiations failed.

The workers are pushing for wage increases and better working conditions. Since the lockout could affect transit traffic within Canada and shipping between the country and the United States, the companies are pushing for binding arbitration.

At about CA341 million US dollars per day, the costs of the lockout will add up quickly. Several industries will to be affectedincluding commuter rail – over 30,000 commuters in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal – as well as chlorinated drinking water, fertilizers, grain, jet fuel, coal, potash, vehicles and manufactured goods of all kinds.

The lockout will hit Trade is tough between the United States and Canada, affecting supply chains and the availability – and potentially the price – of goods on both sides of the border, including food. Before the lockout, railroad companies had suspended cross-border transportation, taking 2,500 cross-border rail cars out of service and abandoning the goods they would otherwise have transported.

The Canadian federal government is urging the parties to return to the negotiating table and has so far refused to intervene legislatively, despite Calls by industry, to apply reintegration laws or a binding arbitration award.

“Trudeau is in a bind,” said Graeme Thompson, senior analyst at Eurasia Group. “The Liberals don’t want to be seen as interfering in the wage negotiations, especially given their support in parliament from the traditionally pro-union New Democratic Party.”

“On the other hand, the economic consequences of even a brief work stoppage would be severe for Canada,” he adds, “and the last thing Trudeau needs is more bad economic news, with his party trailing the opposition conservative parties in the polls, largely due to poor perceptions of their handling of the economy.”