Canadian goods banned from U.S. government purchases in escalating trade fight

U.S. President Donald Trump directed agencies to remove Canadian goods from government contracts, executing an earlier threat as tensions between the two countries flare.

In a presidential memorandum, the White House criticized Canada for its barriers to U.S. companies seeking access to the Canadian government market through a “Buy Canadian” policy.

The order is the latest escalation by Trump in a trade fight that ramped up over the summer, as tit-for-tat tariff measures between the U.S. and Canada followed the last-minute collapse of a trade truce in August.

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The procurement order comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered to make Canada an “associate member” during a speech on Wednesday. Trump criticized the proposal, calling it potentially a “hostile act” and threatened more tariffs on European goods or to “stop trading with Europe on many things.”

Trump signalled he would cut Canadian goods from U.S. government purchases in a social media post earlier this month, “unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity for American Farmers and Companies.”

At the time, Trump said the Canadian goods and services sold under the so-called Multiple Award Schedule are worth more than US$50 billion each year.

A senior administration official later clarified that although the White House calculates the U.S. procurement market at that amount, Canadian companies don’t always account for all of it.