President Donald Trump moved Tuesday to sharply escalate the trade standoff with Canada, ordering outright bans on a range of Canadian alcoholic beverages, select dairy products and large motorcycles, going beyond the tariff-based approach that has defined the dispute so far.
The White House said the bans, invoked under a provision of the 1930 Tariff Act that allows the president to block imports from countries seen as discriminating against U.S. commerce, will take effect September 29. Unlike a tariff, the measure would shut the targeted goods out of the American market entirely rather than simply raising their price. The alcohol restrictions appear to sweep in most major categories — beer, wine, whisky, rum, vodka, tequila, brandy and more — while the dairy ban covers items including whey protein and molasses-based products. Separately, various Canadian cheeses were placed on an existing 50 percent tariff list rather than banned outright, alongside an expanded set of goods spanning steel, aluminum, furniture, paper and lighting products.
The measures follow Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs, which took effect just after midnight Tuesday in response to the 50 percent U.S. tariffs imposed last month on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods. Talks aimed at resolving the broader dispute collapsed in recent weeks, with each side blaming the other for the breakdown.
A senior U.S. official said Trump’s earlier threat to raise tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles from 25 to 50 percent, set to take effect January 1, remains on the table, and that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had been in contact with his Canadian counterpart, Dominic LeBlanc. Trump separately said in a social media post that he would direct federal agencies to exclude Canadian products from government contracts unless Ottawa restores what he called full reciprocity for American farmers and companies. Officials said a related threat from Monday — to block Canadian planemaker Bombardier from selling jets in the U.S. — was not included in Tuesday’s measures but remains under consideration.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded in a video message, saying Canada has the tools it needs to reduce its reliance on the U.S. market and adapt to the shifting relationship. Long-standing friction over Canada’s alcohol policy — most provinces have kept American liquor off the shelves of government-run stores for much of the dispute — has been a particular point of frustration for U.S. officials throughout the standoff.
