Trump Hits Back At Canadian Tariffs With Government Procurement Threat

President Donald Trump continued to threaten Canada with additional trade retaliation Tuesday, warning in a social media post that Canadian products could soon be removed from U.S. government purchasing contracts.

“Canada gets broad access into the massive American Government Procurement Market, including those of our States,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. U.S. producers, the president argued, do not enjoy the same level of access in Canada’s government procurement schemes.

“From now on, NO RECIPROCITY – NO ACCESS!” he wrote, adding that he had directed the General Services Administration, which oversees procurement at government agencies, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, to remove Canadian products from government purchasing programs.

The GSA oversees around $126 billion in federal procurement contracts, according to the agency.

The move is the latest confrontation in a quickly escalating U.S.-Canada trade conflict. Trump and other senior administration officials spent the weekend lashing out at Ottawa over its decision to match U.S. tariff hikes dollar-for-dollar. Those duties on some $20 billion in U.S. exports went into effect Tuesday morning.

Tuesday’s Truth Social post came after Trump posted on Monday threatening to sever Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier’s access to the U.S. market. Trump took aim at the Canadian jetmaker with a massive American footprint, noting there should be “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their products aren’t good enough!”

The threat sparked concern among some of his Republican allies, however. The company maintains manufacturing operations in Wichita, Kansas, stoking fears among the state’s two Republican senators that trade restrictions could lead to job losses. Both said they have been in contact with the administration about the president’s threat.

“I reached out to the Trump administration to make certain the President is aware of the significant contributions of Bombardier to Kansas,” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said in a post to X. “I will continue working to see that Bombardier’s manufacturing operations not only remain in Kansas but continue to grow and create American jobs.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), a staunch Trump ally who is in a tight race for reelection in November’s midterm elections, said that he would “fight” to preserve the facility’s 1,200 jobs.

“I’ve already taken that concern inside the Oval Office,” he said in his own post to social media Tuesday.

Talks between the Trump administration and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to avoid U.S. tariffs on around $20 billion in Canadian exports collapsed abruptly last month, with both sides blaming the other for tanking a potential deal. Following the breakdown in talks, Carney announced a package of retaliatory tariffs and Trump teased new 50 percent U.S. tariffs on Canadian autos and steel, among other products, set to go into effect in January.

The Canadian counter-tariffs target a slate of products from key battlegrounds in November’s midterm elections. Motorcycles, appliances, dairy products and metal products were all in Ottawa’s firing line, in addition to other manufactured goods, prompting concern from some Republican lawmakers in tight election races.

Carney braced Canadians on Tuesday for hard times ahead in an explainer-style video,blaming the Trump administration for treating trade negotiations as a zero-sum deal-making game. “It’s a shame, because a mutually beneficial trade agreement between Canada and the United States is possible,” he said, noting how deals “privilege the few” while agreements “benefit the many.”