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U.S. President Donald Trump signed new executive orders on Tuesday ramping up retaliation after Canada imposed its latest set of duties on the United States.
The five orders, which will take effect later this month, will completely bar the import of certain Canadian goods, including motorcycles, some dairy products and alcoholic beverages.
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It comes after Ottawa’s tariffs — a response to the 50 per cent duties Washington hit Canada with last month — took effect Tuesday.
After the duties were implemented, Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that Canada’s pivot away from the United States will come at a cost, but the alternative would be far worse.
“In the spring of last year, I warned that America is trying to break us so they can own us. And I promised that that will never, ever happen,” Carney said in a video posted on social media.
Since negotiations fell apart last month, Trump has taken aim at Canada almost daily but his latest orders are a significant escalation of trade tensions between the two countries.
Trump used Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to hit Canada with 50 per cent tariffs, accusing Canada of treating the U.S. unfairly. He pointed to provincial bans on U.S. liquor imports and quotas on certain U.S. vehicles — put in place in response to Trump’s initial tariffs — as well as Canada’s supply managed dairy system.
The White House has said Section 338 empowers the president to impose tariffs up to 50 per cent when a country puts U.S. exporters at a disadvantage relative to exporters in other countries — even though the law has never been used for that purpose.
Tuesday’s executive orders justified Trump’s latest move by saying Canada didn’t stop it’s discrimination against U.S. autos, dairy and vehicles so now they are able to block the import of certain products because it is “consistent with the interests of the United States and the public interests.”
Trump also posted on social media earlier Tuesday that he is directing the federal agency that oversees government procurement to remove all Canadian-origin products from its “awards schedules.”
In a post on social media, Trump said “the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets.”
“That is not reciprocity, it is a Canadian Trade Scam,” Trump posted. “From now on, NO RECIPROCITY — NO ACCESS!”
It was not immediately clear what would be affected by the procurement policy, despite the president claiming “those schedules account for more than 50 BILLION DOLLARS a year.”
The General Services Administration says its award schedules are long-term government-wide contracts that negotiate set prices for goods and services with specific suppliers.
When a federal department or agency, along with state and local governments, need something, they can opt to choose from the pre-approved list at those set prices, and avoid a new procurement process.
Here is a short list of some of the items Trump says will be excluded from import to the United States as of Sept. 29:
- Whey products including protein concentrates, fluid and modified whey
- Molasses products including invert, and cane molasses
- Non-alcoholic beer
- Malt beer
- Wine and cider
- Liquor including vermouth, brandy, rye, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, and liqueurs and cordials
- Motorcycles, including mopeds
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