US bans Canadian dairy, alcohol and motorcycles as trade war with longtime ally escalates

The US is banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada, the White House said Tuesday, as the trade war between the two neighbors and longtime allies escalates.

The ban will take effect in three weeks and comes after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US imports earlier Tuesday.

Donald Trump also moved Tuesday to shut Canadian products out of large, long-term US government contracts as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect and prime minister Mark Carney vowed to speed efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on the United States.

The US president directed the General Services Administration to declare Canadian products ineligible for those contracts until Canada allows “full and fair reciprocity″ for American products.

Carney said Tuesday that Canada’s strategy was about becoming more independent. “It’s about ensuring that no country can hold us hostage. And that we can live how we want to live.”

The rupture has upended one of the world’s closest relationships. On 22 August, the US imposed 50% tariffs on about 5% of Canadian imports, charging that Canada had unfairly treated the American dairy, alcoholic beverage and auto industries.

The US and Canada have long sparred over trade, particularly Canada’s protected dairy market and its subsidies for producers of softwood lumber. But they remained friends and staunch allies.

Under Trump, US-Canada relations have deteriorated rapidly. In addition to imposing tariffs on Canadian products, Trump has repeatedly made inflammatory comments about making Canada the 51st US state. Carney came to power in a come-from-behind political victory last year by promising to stand up to him.

Some Canadian provinces have banned the sale of US alcoholic products – a move that prompted the retaliatory US ban on Tuesday.

How the trade war ends could carry consequences far beyond Canada, testing whether a smaller US ally can resist Trump’s economic pressure without being forced to yield.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Canadian official said Ottawa did not intend to change course regardless of whether Trump responded with nothing or what the official called a “nuclear response”. The government’s strategy will remain focused on building more at home and diversifying trade abroad, the official said.

The tariffs hit hundreds of American products, including steel, aluminum, cheese, appliances, clothing, cosmetics and farm equipment, at rates of 15%, 25% or 50%. They cover about $20bn in American goods, roughly 6% of the $333.6bn the United States exported to Canada last year.

Since Canada-US trade talks collapsed 21 August, Trump and his administration have imposed additional tariffs and issued a series of threats and attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent.

Trump’s trade war and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have fueled anger across the country. Canadians have sharply cut travel to the United States and boycotted US goods, moves Carney praised as signs of national resolve.

Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson for Canada-US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc, said officials from both countries remain in contact even though formal talks have not resumed.