White House: ban on imports of alcohol, dairy products and motorbikes from Canada
Since trade negotiations between Canada and the United States broke down on 21 August, Trump and his administration have unleashed a barrage of tariffs, threats and personal attacks, portraying Canada as weak and dependent.
The United States has escalated its trade war with Canada. The White House has announced that the US will ban imports from Canada of certain dairy products, most alcoholic drinks and some motorcycles. The new US ban will come into force on 29 September and follows retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada, which came into force on Tuesday morning on US imports worth 20 billion dollars.
A senior administration official stated that on Tuesday 8 September, US President Donald Trump signed the documents setting out the reasons behind the ban. The documents were published on the White House website.
Ongoing trade war
Since trade negotiations between Canada and the United States broke down on 21 August, Trump and his administration have unleashed a barrage of tariffs, threats and personal attacks, portraying Canada as weak and dependent. Trump had already warned that the Canadian economy could collapse if the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney continued to treat him as “the enemy”.
Trump has even renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America”, a change that has been ignored and ridiculed in Canada, whilst Google and Apple have bowed to pressure from Trump and altered their maps for US users.
Provocations
Trump’s trade war and his repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have fuelled anger and bolstered support for Carney. Canadians have drastically cut back on travel to the United States and boycotted US products. The current trade war began after Trump returned to office and imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods, despite having negotiated and repeatedly praised the North American trade agreement during his first term. Many of these tariffs breach the agreement.
