President Trump has invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to bar certain Canadian products from entering the U.S. market and to change the scope of tariff actions he imposed on Canada on July 20, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said in a statement issued Sept. 8, 2026.
The action covers three sectors already targeted in July: motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and dairy. According to USTR, the President both banned certain Canadian products in those categories and modified the July 20 measures, adding some goods to the tariffs’ scope while removing what the agency described as “certain non-sensitive Canadian goods.”
USTR did not list the affected products in the text of its release, directing readers instead to separate product lists and presidential proclamations.
The procurement directive
Separately, USTR said the President directed the agency and the General Services Administration to remove $50 billion worth of Canadian-origin products from GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules, the contracting vehicles through which federal agencies buy commercial goods and services from pre-approved vendors.
The release did not specify a timeline for that removal or identify the product categories involved.
What Section 338 authorizes
Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, codified at 19 U.S.C. 1338, allows the President to impose duties of up to 50 percent on imports from a foreign country to offset what the statute describes as the burden or disadvantage arising from that country’s unequal treatment of or discrimination against U.S. commerce, according to the background section of the USTR release.
The provision also permits the President to exclude a country’s products from importation entirely if that country “maintains or increases its discriminatory practices” against U.S. commerce, USTR said.
On July 20, 2026, the President took three separate Section 338 actions covering motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and dairy, after finding that the public interest would be served, according to the release. USTR said the President has now determined that Canada’s conduct makes further bans and a narrowing of the earlier actions “necessary and appropriate.”
Greer’s characterization
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer attributed the escalation to a breakdown in bilateral talks.
“After weeks of good faith and intensive efforts between U.S. and Canadian negotiators, Canada walked away from a near-final trade deal that offered better treatment than any other trading partner, and instead Canada chose to embark on senseless retaliation against the United States,” Greer said in the statement.
He described the measures as “targeted import bans as authorized by Section 338 and a calibration of the underlying Section 338 tariffs,” and called them “a natural consequence of Canada’s continued discriminatory treatment of crucial American exports, ranging from alcoholic beverages to dairy products to motor vehicles.”
Greer added that the President “will continue to leverage the tools at his disposal to defend the interests of American workers and exporters, and restore reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships.”
The characterizations of Canada’s negotiating conduct and trade measures are those of USTR and Greer. The release contains no response from the Canadian government, and does not describe the specific Canadian measures it refers to as retaliation or discrimination.
Source: Office of the United States Trade Representative, “Ambassador Greer Issues Statement on President Trump’s Response to Canada’s Continued Retaliation Against the United States,” released September 8, 2026. The release does not enumerate the banned or modified products within its text, referring instead to separately published product lists and presidential proclamations.