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WASHINGTON — <\/span>U.S.-Canada relations, already tense, are likely to deteriorate further after the United States went ahead early Tuesday with a decision to ban nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles.<\/p>\n The ban amounts to barely a ripple in $880 billion worth of a two-way annual trade between the two northern neighbors. But it marks another ratcheting up of President Donald Trump\u2019s second-term trade war with America\u2019s longtime ally and trading partner.<\/p>\n The import ban \u201ccertainly won’t do anything to help the trade tensions between the United States and Canada,” said trade attorney Patrick Childress, a partner at Holland & Knight and a former U.S. trade official.<\/p>\n The latest sparring began over the summer when Trump reached back to a Great Depression law to impose 50% tariffs<\/a> on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, charging that Canada discriminates against U.S. dairy, auto and alcoholic beverage producers. Canada promptly counterpunched<\/a> with tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50%, matching U.S. imports dollar for dollar.<\/p>\n To punish Canada for retaliating against his tariffs, Trump decided to ban<\/a> a list of Canadian products, effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.<\/p>\n The economic impact is likely to be minimal. Childress noted that the products on the banned list were already facing Trump\u2019s tariffs. \u201dFor a lot of these goods, the 50% was already acting as a de facto ban by making importation from Canada into the United States uneconomical,\u2033 he said.<\/p>\n Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the center-right American Action Forum think tank, calculates that the ban would cover $967 million worth of Canadian imports, based on 2025 numbers. Of that, 87% would be alcoholic beverages that the U.S. targeted because of some Canadian provinces responding to Trump\u2019s provocations by banning U.S. booze from store shelves.<\/p>\n Also banned are some dairy products \u2014 including the milk byproduct whey. The two countries have long clashed over Canada\u2019s attempts to protect its dairy industry from foreign competition by imposing hefty tariffs once dairy imports have exceeded a quota.<\/p>\n The ban also covers motorcycles. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) in Quebec confirmed that its three-wheel Can-Am Spyder and Canyon motorcycles \u201cwill be excluded from importation into the U.S.\u2019\u2019 But BRP said the impact likely won\u2019t be felt until next year because it has completed most production and shipments for the current season.<\/p>\n \u201cThis marks yet another escalation in the trade war that may result in further retaliation on the Canadian side,\u201d Jensen said. He expects Canadian exporters and U.S. importers \u201cimpacted by these bans will be highly motivated\u2019\u2019 to demand that trade officials on both sides find some way to reach a \u201cresolution of this whole ordeal.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n The impasse imperils efforts to renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement<\/a>, a North American trade pact Trump pressured America\u2019s neighbors into accepting in his first term and which he once declared \u201cthe most modern, up-to-date, and balanced trade agreement in the history of our country.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n The deal allowed most goods to cross North American borders duty free. But since returning to the White House last year, Trump has announced a series of tariffs that have clouded the future of trade in the region.<\/p>\n Trump has directed most of his ire at Canada. He is openly seeking to pull Canadian manufacturing south. And he has inflamed public opinion in Canada by repeatedly suggesting that the country become America\u2019s 51st state.<\/p>\n Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney came to power last year on a promise to stand up to Trump. In addition to retaliating against Trump tariffs \u2014 China is the only other country to do so, with very different results<\/a> \u2014 Carney has sought to reduce Canada\u2019s reliance on the United States, which last year accounted for more than 70% of Canadian exports.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is now a price to be paid for access to the United States market,\u201d Carney said earlier this month. The Canadian prime minister wants to double Canada\u2019s non-U.S. trade over the next decade.<\/p>\n Carney has embraced the prospect of Canada becoming the European Union\u2019s first associate member<\/a>.<\/p>\n And he said last week that trade negotiations with India<\/a> are making \u201cgood progress\u201d and that the two countries are aiming to conclude talks<\/a> by the G20<\/a> summit in mid-December.<\/p>\n