The Trump administration is moving to ban Canadian imports like alcohol, whey, and motorcycles in the latest escalation of the countries’ trade war.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has spoken with Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc in recent days, a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday, and the countries will attempt to negotiate “an alternative pathway” before the bans take effect at the end of the month.
“It’s really just Canada and China who thought, ‘I’m not going to do tariffs, I’m going to start banning stuff,’” the official said. “They set this precedent.”
The US is also exempting Canadian imports like road salt and paper goods from its existing tariffs, swapping in other goods in order “to really minimize the impact on supply chains here,” the official said.
The news came after President Donald Trump said he would box Canadian imports out of the federal government’s purchasing process. The president still plans to hike tariffs on Canadian autos in January, the official said, unless the countries can reach an agreement before then.