WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation barring imports of Canadian motorcycles, dairy products and alcoholic beverages outright. Since taking office in January last year, Trump has repeatedly raised tariffs on foreign goods, but this is the first time he has moved to block imports altogether. He set the effective date for the 29th, leaving room for negotiation, but analysts say his trade policy has evolved beyond tariffs into an extreme use of import bans.
Trump signed the proclamation to that effect, the White House said on the 8th. Trump said Section 338 of the Trade Act grants the authority to exclude goods from a foreign country from importation if that country maintains or intensifies discrimination against the United States, and he determined that Canada continues to discriminate against U.S. commerce.
Certain Canadian products will be excluded from the list of goods that may be imported into the United States after 12:01 a.m. on September 29 U.S. Eastern time, or 1:01 p.m. on the 29th Korea time, Trump wrote. He listed motorcycles, dairy products, non-alcoholic beer, beer, wine, brandy, whiskey, bourbon, rum and vodka among the banned items.
Section 338 of the Trade Act, enacted in 1930, allows the U.S. president to impose duties of up to 50% on goods from a country that imposes unreasonable regulations or applies discriminatory treatment. Notably, the provision also gives the president the power to ban imports outright if the discriminatory treatment is not corrected.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently signaled that such a step was possible. In a CNBC interview late last month, he said the United States had never taken such prohibitive action and called it a fairly extreme measure, while adding that it might prove necessary. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the reciprocal tariffs unlawful, finding that the president lacks the authority to impose tariffs while concluding that he may bar imports. Trump said at the time that he could impose an embargo but could not collect a single cent in tariffs.
U.S. online outlet Axios said Trump is reaching for a more extreme trade war weapon with a new threat to bar foreign goods from the United States entirely, calling it a significant shift in the administration's trade policy. The outlet added that the move could carry greater economic fallout than tariffs.
With Trump putting an unprecedented import ban on the table, pressure on other countries, including South Korea, is expected to intensify.
