Trump Moves to Block Canadian Goods From Federal Procurement Program

President Donald Trump directed the General Services Administration (GSA) on Tuesday to take steps to remove Canadian-origin products from a Multiple Award Schedule that accounts for more than $50 billion a year in transactions.

Trump posted on Truth Social that he wants the GSA to work with the U.S. Trade Representative to “take all necessary steps” to remove Canadian products from the GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules “unless Canada restores full and fair reciprocity for American Farmers and Companies.”

The GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule is a government-wide contracting program that gives federal agencies access to millions of commercial products and services through streamlined purchasing procedures.

“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,” Trump said in his post on Truth Social.

Trump’s directive came shortly after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods following the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada last month.

The tariffs, which took effect just after midnight on Sept. 8, range from 15 percent to 50 percent and cover products including seafood, furniture, dairy products, cosmetics, and some lumber.

Canadian officials said the measures matched tariffs Trump imposed on $20 billion of Canadian exports beginning Aug. 22. Canada has also implemented a “Buy Canadian” policy, while eight of its 10 provinces have restricted or prohibited the sale of U.S. alcoholic products.

Robert Reich, an economist, University of California–Berkeley professor emeritus, and former U.S. labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, on Tuesday criticized Trump’s broader approach to trade with Canada. Reich responded to a recent claim Trump had made that if the United States ended all trade with Canada, the United States would save $90 billion.

“Canada is one of our biggest trading partners. Donald Trump is one of our biggest economic illiterates,” Reich said in a post on X. “Now the rest of us are caught in the crossfire of an idiotic trade war that’s going to hurt regular people more than they’ll benefit.”