US ban on Canadian imports likely to weaken already fragile relationship

It marks another ratcheting up of Trump’s trade war and affects nearly $1bn in imports of a $880bn trade relationship

US-Canada relations, already tense, are likely to deteriorate further after the United States went ahead early on Tuesday with a decision to ban nearly $1bn worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles.

The ban amounts to barely a ripple in $880bn worth of annual two-way trade between the two northern neighbors. But it marks another ratcheting up of Donald Trump’s second-term trade war with the US’s longtime ally and trading partner.