Trump says he plans to remove Canadian products from U.S. government procurement program

OTTAWA — United States President Donald Trump said he plans to remove Canadian-origin products from a U.S. federal government procurement program on Tuesday, his first response since Canada hit the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs.

“I am hereby directing the GSA [U.S. General Services Administration], working with the USTR, to take all necessary steps to REMOVE Canadian-origin products from GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity for American Farmers and Companies,” he said, in a post on TruthSocial on Tuesday. “Those schedules account for more than 50 BILLION DOLLARS a year.”

Trump’s announcement comes on the same day Canadian retaliatory tariffs came into effect on $28 billion worth of U.S. imports.

The GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules program is the U.S. federal government’s most widely used vehicle for procurement acquisition of commercial services and products.

The president cited the lack of U.S. access to the Canadian dairy market and Canadian government procurement programs, as reasons for the latest trade move.

“ Canada has been ripping us off for years, but what many do not realize is that the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets,” the president said. “This is the case even though Canada gets broad access into the massive American Government Procurement Market, including those of our States.”

Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he doesn’t believe in escalating the trade conflict, following Canada’s retaliatory response.

“That’s not constructive,” said Carney, during a video address released on Tuesday. “But our tariffs are necessary protect our workers, protect our companies, and our communities.”

Carney said his government can’t allow American goods into Canada tariff-free, while the U.S. charges Canadian companies to export.

Canada’s latest round of tariffs against the U.S. is in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50 per-cent tariff on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Trump slapped Canada with the new tariffs after trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down on Aug. 21.

Carney announced a pause in negotiations last month and said several last-minute conditions in the draft text of an agreement made a deal with the U.S. untenable.

“We worked in good faith to reach a fair deal, but since a fair deal wasn’t on the table, we made the right choice to walk away from a bad one,” Carney said Tuesday.

Since trade talks were paused, there has been no communication between negotiators on both sides. The U.S. administration has vowed to respond to Canada’s latest round of tariffs. Over the weekend, Trump took to TruthSocial where he attacked aircraft maker Bombardier and posted a photo of the North American continent covered in an American flag.

Trump also took issue with the exchange rate and the value of the Canadian dollar. He called the loonie’s “imbalance” with the U.S. dollar “unacceptable.”

Carney in his address warned that the trade conflict with the U.S. will come at a cost.

“There’s always a cost to action, but it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still,” he said. “This is about who we are as Canadians. It’s about our livelihoods and the country we leave to our kids.”

National Post

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