Trump bars Canadian products from US government procurement in escalating trade dispute

Donald Trump is escalating the trade dispute with Canada by targeting a market worth more than $50 billion a year. In a post on Truth Social, the US president ordered government agencies to remove Canadian-origin products from the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedules.

The schedules list companies whose products and services US agencies can purchase through long-term framework contracts. Trump tied the measure to his demand that Canada give US companies, including dairy farmers, equivalent access to its market.

He regularly argues that the United States suffers from an unfair trade imbalance with Canada and has used the same argument to impose tariffs on many other countries. His latest announcement came as Canadian retaliatory tariffs on US imports entered into force. Earlier Canadian statements said the measures covered steel and aluminum, household appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.

Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa had recently failed. The United States then imposed 50% tariffs in August on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, including hockey sticks, furniture, honey, and wine. Canada responded with its own measures.

Trump also turned his attention to Bombardier, the Canadian aircraft manufacturer. He threatened on Monday to block the sale of its planes in the United States and urged the Quebec-based company to build them there instead. “If they want our market, they have to produce here,” Trump wrote. Bombardier said its US operations have created tens of thousands of jobs in the country and that it spends more than $2.5 billion a year with US suppliers.

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If they want our market, they have to produce here.