President Trump signed executive orders banning several Canadian imports, among them certain alcohols, dairy and motorcycles, the White House announced Tuesday. The White House said Canada’s discrimination against U.S. alcohol, autos and dairy had put American exporters at a disadvantage.
Hours earlier, Trump had said he would direct federal agencies to block Canada from U.S. contracts. In a social media post he wrote “NO RECIPROCITY – NO ACCESS!” and said he was telling the agency responsible for U.S. procurement not to buy “Canadian-origin products.” He argued that Canada and its provinces have “banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets.”
The listed bans take effect Sept. 29. They include whey products, molasses products and liquor such as vermouth, brandy, rye, rum, gin, vodka and tequila. The orders also add items to the list of Canadian goods facing 50 per cent U.S. tariffs, starting Sept. 15, aluminum bars and rods among them. The U.S. dropped tariffs on some other products at the same time.
One order cited Saskatchewan’s 50 per cent surcharge on American-made alcohol, which took effect Tuesday, as an example of Canada’s “discriminatory treatment” of U.S. drinks.
Canada hits back
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect just after midnight Tuesday. They target roughly 700 American products, including dairy, plywood and sunscreen. Trump’s own 50 per cent tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods had come into force after trade talks between Ottawa and Washington broke down last month.
Prime Minister Mark Carney used a national video address to warn Canadians that pivoting away from the United States would cost something, but that the alternative would be worse. He said the aim is to come out stronger so that no country can hold Canada hostage.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he was in contact with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and that Ottawa was assessing the new measures. “When the U.S. is ready to engage, our government will work in good faith and constructively towards a more secure mutually beneficial trading relationship that fully respects Canadian sovereignty,” he wrote in a social media post Tuesday night.
Provinces have moved on procurement too. Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario have each restricted their own contracts since the trade conflict began, and the federal government announced an “interim policy on reciprocal procurement” last year. B.C. Premier David Eby said his province will put up signs at U.S. border crossings reading that it is “never the 51st state.” He also warned of real damage. “People will lose their jobs and businesses will close on both sides of the border,” Eby said.
Bombardier
On Monday Trump threatened to stop sales of Bombardier aircraft in the United States unless they are built there, saying the planes aren’t “good enough.” Bombardier shares fell 6.4 per cent in Tuesday morning trading and then rebounded. The U.S. accounts for about half the company’s sales.
Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said Ottawa has had no official word from Washington beyond Trump’s posts. “Bombardier is certified around the world,” he said, “and there is no known process to decertify an airplane.” Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said he contacted administration officials about the company, whose Wichita operation supports more than a thousand local workers.
Jeffrey Bloodworth, a history professor at Gannon University, read the moves as Trump “controlling the headlines.” “We’re talking about a trade war, and Trump sees this as helping his political numbers,” he told CTV News Channel. He called the procurement ban “low hanging fruit” from an administration “shooting from the hip.”
In British Columbia, Lazar Ilic, owner of Appliance Outlet, has tripled his usual orders of U.S.-made appliances because suppliers say prices on some could rise 30 to 50 per cent starting Oct. 1. That stock should last about three months.
