The economic battle of Canada has seen yet another escalation. In the latest Trump broadside, the president took to his Truth Social account to describe another economic action, in his direction to the General Services Administration (GSA), which is basically the United States government's real-estate manager and supply closet, to remove all Canadian-origin products from the GSA's Multiple Award Schedules - meaning no more business for Canada from the American government.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 8, 2026
The president writes:
Everyone knows that Canada doesn’t let our Great Dairy Farmers sell into the Canadian Market, and that the only reason Canada makes Autos is because of previous disastrous Trade Agreements while other Presidents were in Office. Canada has been ripping us off for years, but what many do not realize is that the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets. This is the case even though Canada gets broad access into the massive American Government Procurement Market, including those of our States. That is not reciprocity, it is a Canadian Trade Scam. From now on, NO RECIPROCITY – NO ACCESS! I am hereby directing the GSA, working with the USTR, 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. Those schedules account for more than 50 BILLION DOLLARS a year. This should have been cut off years ago by other Administrations, like it was by mine, only to reinstituted by Sleepy Joe Biden. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The president is correct in describing the difficulties American companies can encounter in doing business in Canada; in my own jacket-and-tie years, I did a fair amount of business in Canada, because if an American manufacturer wanted to sell its wares in Canada, it was generally easier to build a plant in Canada and hire Canadian workers than to go through all of the flaming hoops of getting approved to sell American products in Canada. In this, Canada is, dare we say it, trying to Make Canada Great Again; but what Canada may be learning now is that the United States has quite a few more economic arrows in our quiver than they do. And, in this case, this is a reaction to Canada's closing of American sources for products and services for the Canadian government.
Look, every country's government should do what Canada's government obviously thinks they are doing, and that's to take care of the interests and people of Canada first. But they should also realize when they are fighting well out of their league, and that things would probably be better and more profitable not only for the United States but for Canada as well to eliminate the trade barriers going both ways.
In this case, dropping Canadian goods from GSA's listings is bound to hurt Canadian industry. While numbers aren't easily obtainable (nor should they be) it's liable that sales to the American government are considerable, but they are also almost entirely a one-way street.
As for we Americans, if it comes to that, we can get along without maple syrup and Canadian bacon for a while.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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