The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has signed this Wednesday a presidential memorandum with the aim of excluding products from Canada from federal government contracts, thus continuing the threat made the previous week amid escalating tariff tensions with Ottawa.
"Today (Wednesday), President Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum to identify and take measures to exclude Canadian-origin products from federal civil government contracts, in response to Canada's measures that have denied U.S. companies access to federal and provincial contracting markets in that country," reads the clarification note published by the White House.
In the memorandum itself, Trump instructs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, and the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Jamieson Greer, to "identify and adopt all measures permitted by applicable law regarding Canadian-origin items in the federal civil public procurement system that may, when justified, be excluded or declared unavailable for acquisition."
Likewise, he urges Vought to "inform the relevant departments and executive agencies (...) about national alternatives" to imports from Canada and to periodically report progress on this matter, while Greer "continues to monitor the treatment that Canada gives to U.S. origin items."
The U.S. leader bases this decision on the document itself, alleging the "unjustified" imposition by Ottawa of "new barriers to U.S. companies seeking access to the Canadian government's public procurement market," and cites as an example "its 'Buy Canadian' policy."
Trump also denounces additional obstacles to U.S. companies' access to public procurement in certain Canadian provinces, while emphasizing that "Canadian companies continue to enjoy preferential access to the U.S. government's public procurement system."
The Republican leader had already made this warning the Tuesday of the previous week, after Canada announced the application of tariffs ranging from 15% to 50% on goods derived from steel and aluminum and on basic products such as dairy, fish, or seafood, in response to the levies previously imposed by Washington after the failure of bilateral talks between both countries.