WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Zark News) — The United States has moved ahead with a ban on nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian imports — including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles — a significant escalation of President Donald Trump’s second-term trade war with America’s longtime ally.
The ban took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the center-right American Action Forum, calculates the covered imports at $967 million based on 2025 figures, with alcoholic beverages — beer, sparkling wine, brandy, sake and other liquor — making up 87% of that total. Whey and other dairy products and large-engine motorcycles fill out the list.
The ban is the latest chapter in a months-long standoff. Over the summer, Trump reached back to a Depression-era law — Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — to impose 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian imports, charging that Canada discriminates against U.S. dairy, auto and alcohol producers, the AP reported. Canada countered with tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50%, matching U.S. imports dollar for dollar, prompting Trump to impose the ban as punishment for retaliating.
The economic impact is likely to be minimal. The $967 million is barely a ripple in $880 billion of annual two-way trade between the neighbors, and trade attorney Patrick Childress of Holland & Knight noted that the 50% tariffs had already made legal importation of many of the products uneconomical. “For a lot of these goods, the 50% was already acting as a de facto ban,” Childress told the AP, adding the standoff could last months rather than weeks.
Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products confirmed its three-wheel Can-Am Spyder and Canyon motorcycles “will be excluded from importation into the U.S.,” though the company expects little practical impact until next year because most production and shipments for this season are complete, according to the AP.
Trump issued three proclamations, published in the Federal Register on Sept. 14, citing Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974; the motorcycle proclamation applies to engines larger than 800 cc, and the dairy measure targets Canada’s tariff-rate quota for U.S. cheeses, according to trade press. Prime Minister Mark Carney, meanwhile, wants to double trade with countries outside the U.S. over the next decade, as more than 70% of Canada’s exports went to the U.S. last year.
Sources: Associated Press, American Action Forum
