Trump bans Canadian goods from US government purchases

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump directed agencies to remove Canadian goods from government contracts, executing an earlier threat as tensions between the two countries flare. In a presidential memorandum, the White House criticised Canada for its barriers to US companies seeking access to the Canadian government market through a “Buy Canadian” policy.The order is the latest escalation by Trump in a trade fight that ramped up over the summer, as tit-for-tat tariff measures between the US and Canada followed the last-minute collapse of a trade truce in August. The procurement order comes after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered to make Canada an “associate member” during a speech on Sept 16. Trump criticised the proposal, calling it potentially a “hostile act” and threatened more tariffs on European goods or to “stop trading with Europe on many things”.Trump signalled he would cut Canadian goods from US government purchases in a social media post earlier in September, “unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity for American Farmers and Companies”.At the time, Trump said the Canadian goods and services sold under the so-called Multiple Award Schedule are worth more than US$50 billion (S$63.9 billion) each year.A senior administration official later clarified that although the White House calculates the US procurement market at that amount, Canadian companies do not always account for all of it. BLOOMBERG