The conflict between Washington and Ottawa escalates: Trump bans Canadian products

Donald Trump escalated his trade conflict with Ottawa on Tuesday night by banning the import of certain Canadian products into the United States and raising tariffs on other goods.

This response comes as Canada has just imposed new tariffs on American products, in response to the surtaxes put in place by Washington since August 22 against its own exports.

A U.S. government official told reporters that Canadians had been warned that their reaction would make things worse.

The import ban targets all types of alcoholic beverages, as well as dairy products such as whey and large motorcycles with an engine capacity exceeding 800cc. It will take effect on September 29, according to a presidential decree.

A range of products, from mattresses to motorboats and golf carts, will be subject to a 50% surcharge from September 15, according to other decrees published at the same time.

Conversely, some Canadian exports will be exempt from this punitive surtax. Their list is considerably shorter: toilet paper is one of them.

To justify the ban on importing alcoholic beverages, President Donald Trump cites the boycott, which he considers "discriminatory," targeting American alcohol in Canada.

Since last year, American wines and spirits have disappeared from shelves in most Canadian provinces, which hold a monopoly on their sale. Canadians have thus rebelled against new American tariffs, as well as Donald Trump's repeated calls to make their country the 51st US state.

More recently, the signing of a decree to change the name of Lake Ontario, whose waters are shared between the two neighbors, to "Lake America", was also very poorly received.

- Risky bet -

Canadian Minister Dominic LeBlanc, responsible for relations between the two countries, told X that his country was "evaluating" these "unjustified" measures, and said he was in contact with White House Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

"When the United States is ready to engage in dialogue, our government will work in good faith and constructively to establish safer and mutually beneficial trade relations that fully respect Canadian sovereignty," he added.

No way out of the crisis seems to be in sight at the moment.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Tuesday morning that his government's strategy to reduce dependence on the United States would have a short-term economic "cost" for the country.

The "cost of inaction" would be much higher, he asserted in a video posted on YouTube a few hours after the Canadian customs response came into effect.

Supported by Canadian public opinion, Mark Carney is making an economically risky bet. Nearly 60% of Canada's imports come from the United States, and about 70% of its exports go there.

The White House tenant also took steps on Tuesday to exclude Canadian companies from a U.S. government procurement program, according to a message on his Truth Social platform.

He claimed to have given "instructions (...) to take all necessary measures to REMOVE Canadian-origin products" from a system of multi-year contracts between private suppliers and public sector buyers.

This measure, if implemented, could penalize Canadian exports that have so far been spared from surtaxes, Ryan Majerus, a lawyer specializing in commercial law, told AFP.

The day before, it was the Canadian group and private jet manufacturer Bombardier that was threatened with a boycott by Donald Trump.

Two Republican senators from Kansas (in the central United States), where the aircraft manufacturer employs more than a thousand people, expressed their concern. One of them, Jerry Moran, indicated on his X account that he had "contacted the Trump administration to ensure that the president is aware of Bombardier's significant contribution" to the state.