The U.S. ban on imports of some Canadian products, covering alcohol, dairy products and motorcycles, took effect early Tuesday, hitting an estimated 967 million U.S. dollars worth of Canadian exports.
The ban marks the latest escalation in a series of trade measures the Trump administration has taken against Canada. With annual bilateral trade between the two countries worth about 880 billion U.S. dollars, the ban affects only a small portion of overall trade between the two countries.
U.S. trade lawyer, Patrick Childress, said the goods in question had already faced additional U.S. tariffs, and some of them were effectively shut out of the U.S. market already by those higher duties.
Jacob Jensen, Director of Trade Policy at the U.S. think tank American Action Forum, estimated that the Canadian goods covered by the ban are worth about 967 million U.S. dollars, roughly 87 percent of which are alcoholic beverages, including beer, spirits, sparkling wine, brandy and sake. Some dairy products and motorcycles are also included in the U.S. import ban.
Canada has already retaliated against U.S. tariffs. The latest ban is likely to worsen U.S.-Canada trade friction and add uncertainty to negotiations over the renewal of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Trade disputes between the U.S. and Canada have been rising steadily in recent weeks. The Trump administration began imposing a 50 percent tariff on hundreds of Canadian goods, including wine and cement, on Aug 22. Canada retaliated with "equal and reciprocal" countermeasures, imposing new tariffs on more than 700 types of U.S. goods worth about 20 billion U.S. dollars starting on Sep 8.
U.S. President Donald Trump also signed a presidential memorandum on Sep 16, excluding Canadian products from U.S. government procurement purchasing.
US ban on almost 1 bln USD in Canadian imports takes effect
