Canada

The Guardian - The US is banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada, the White House said on Tuesday, as the trade war between the two neighbors and longtime allies escalates. The ban will take effect in three weeks and comes after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US imports earlier on Tuesday.

Donald Trump also moved to shut Canadian products out of large, long-term US government contracts as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect and the prime minister, Mark Carney, vowed to speed efforts to reduce the country’s dependence on the United States. The US president directed the General Services Administration to declare Canadian products ineligible for those contracts until Canada allows “full and fair reciprocity" for American products. Carney said on Tuesday that Canada’s strategy was about becoming more independent. “It’s about ensuring that no country can hold us hostage. And that we can live how we want to live.”

The Hill - President Trump’s escalation of the trade war with Canada is coming at a bad time for Senate Republican candidates, who are being put in the awkward place of having to defend the administration’s economic record while having to push back against Trump’s targeting of critical Canadian imports and companies.