Washington: US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Wednesday directing officials to identify and remove Canadian-origin goods from the federal procurement system, the White House said.
In the memorandum, Trump directed the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the United States Trade Representative to “identify and take all steps permitted by applicable law with respect to Canadian-origin items in the Federal civil procurement system that can, where warranted, be removed or made non-available for purchase”.
The memorandum comes amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada. The United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about USD 20 billion worth of Canadian goods, effective August 22, prompting Canada to retaliate with matching tariffs on an equivalent value of US imports, which took effect on September 8.
In a post on Truth Social on September 8, Trump said he had ordered Canadian products to be removed from US government contract lists in response to Canada's counter-tariffs. He said he was “directing the GSA (General Services Administration), working with the USTR (United States Trade Representative), 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”.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday, while delivering a closing keynote at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, that he backed the federal government's decision to walk away from trade talks with the United States “to see a trade war commence in earnest”, as he believed that “our government had no choice but to take this path”.
“The current US administration views our level of economic integration as incompatible with our separate sovereignty. Thus, to maintain that sovereignty, we must pursue diminished reliance upon the United States. There will be significant cost to this effort, but those are costs that I hope and believe Canadians are able and prepared to accept,” he added.
