Trump Orders Outright Bans on Canadian Alcohol, Dairy and Motorcycles Starting Sept. 29

Since the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods on Aug. 22, the trade war between the two countries has escalated from tariffs to outright bans.

Canada's retaliatory tariffs, matching the U.S. measures dollar for dollar on $20 billion of American goods, took effect just after midnight Tuesday, according to Reuters reporting carried by the Daily Signal. Hours later, senior Trump administration officials told reporters the U.S. would go further: an outright ban on most Canadian alcohol, plus Canadian motorcycles, whey, molasses and nonalcoholic beer, starting at 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 29, according to CBS News. These aren't new tariffs. They're a total shutout of those products from the U.S. market.

A separate round of proclamations adds a 50% tariff on Canadian cheese, steel, aluminum and bamboo furniture starting Sept. 15, CBS News reported. The administration also quietly dropped some existing tariffs on toilet paper, cement and fishing rod parts after what officials called further review of the economic impact.

A senior administration official told CBS the targeted products were chosen because Canada has little U.S. market share in them anyway, meaning American buyers can shift to domestic or other foreign suppliers without much pain. The administration picked categories it believes won't disrupt the broader economy.

Bombardier in the crosshairs

Trump also threatened Monday to bar Canadian aerospace company Bombardier from selling planes in the U.S. at all unless it builds them domestically, writing on Truth Social that Canada had "blocked Gulfstream Aerospace from doing business in Canada" and that the era of treating America "like a piggybank" is over, according to the Epoch Times.

Bombardier pushed back, telling the Epoch Times it employs 3,500 people directly in the U.S. across five service centers, including in Wichita, Kansas, and Hartford, Connecticut, with a supply chain of roughly 2,800 American companies across 47 states. Kansas Republican Sens. Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran publicly defended the company, according to CBS News. Not every Republican is on board with every escalation.

Quebec's Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Christine Fréchette, said she wouldn't answer "provocation with provocation," the Epoch Times reported.

Contracts, courts and Congress

Trump separately directed the General Services Administration to make Canadian products ineligible for large, long-term federal contracts until Canada allows what he called "full and fair reciprocity" for American goods, according to the Independent. He's also holding a threatened 50% tariff on all Canadian autos, trucks, auto parts and steel in reserve, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027, if no deal is reached, per CBS News.

On Capitol Hill, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is scheduled to meet with the House Republican Study Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and two sources told Fox News Digital they expect lawmakers to press him on the Canada dispute. The House already passed a bill in February to reverse an earlier round of Canada tariffs, with six Republicans joining nearly every Democrat in support.

Who's actually feeling it

Japanese brewer Sapporo told Bloomberg, as reported by the Daily Wire, that it will shift production of its nonalcoholic beer for American customers from Canada to the U.S. starting in the first half of 2027, citing the 50% tariff directly. Sapporo Chief Strategy Officer Rieko Shofu said the tariffs "will impact us very much," and that the company is now considering a new West Coast brewery or a domestic manufacturing contract.

RBC Economics, the research arm of Royal Bank of Canada, said Canada's retaliatory tariffs are unlikely to dent overall U.S. growth but could hit specific American businesses hard, according to the Daily Wire. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued Canada simply can't sustain a prolonged fight with an economy 13 times its size.

Canadians see it differently. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday the goal is independence from U.S. leverage: "It's about ensuring that no country can hold us hostage," he told reporters, according to the Independent. Canadian officials are also exploring deeper ties with the European Union, short of membership, as a hedge against Washington, an unnamed Canadian official told the Independent.

The politics cut against Trump domestically. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found just 20% of Americans approve of the tariffs on Canadian goods, according to the Daily Signal. Michael Harvey of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, who advises Carney's government, put it plainly: "What we are worried about is an escalatory spiral."

A Canadian government source told Reuters there are currently no active talks between ministers or officials on either side, even as both governments publicly insist an off-ramp remains possible. The USMCA trade pact itself is up for its annual review after Trump declined to extend it for another decade, leaving the legal foundation of North American trade unresolved heading into the Sept. 29 and Sept. 15 deadlines.