Alcohol, whey and motorcycles are in the crosshairs of the US import ban on Canada products

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NEW YORK (AP) — The trade war between the U.S. and Canada escalated again this week as the U.S. announced import bans on most alcoholic beverages from Canada, along with other products including whey, molasses and motorcycles.

The U.S. had already imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products — about 5% of the $381.92 billion worth of products that the country sent to the U.S. last year. The import bans announced late Tuesday target some of those products.

Exporting products to the U.S. with a 50% levy would have been difficult for Canadian businesses. But the import bans, set to be implemented on Sept. 29, are designed to increase the pain even more.

Import bans are “extremely unusual as a artifact of trade policy,” said Jonathan Doh, professor of international business at Villanova University. “I can’t remember any action in the modern era that involved an absolute ban.”

But he said they are, “in terms of the material impact, not that great overall,” except in specific categories like alcohol.

Here's a look at the products in the cross-hairs of the import bans.

The trade war has escalated boycotts on American alcohol in Canada, as some provincial liquor boards and stores started taking U.S. labels off store shelves beginning in 2025.

“What that effectively meant was that U.S. liquor, wine, beer, was banned from the Canadian market,” Doh said. “And I think this perhaps appears to have stimulated the U.S. trade policy officials to think, ‘Well, you’re gonna ban some of our imports, we’re gonna ban some of yours as well.’”

The U.S. import ban covers a wide array of categories: beer made from malt, certain types of wine, and spirits like bourbon, whisky, gin, vodka and others.

In 2023, 17.5 million 9-liter (2.4-gallon) cases of Canadian whisky were sold in the United States, worth about $2.3 billion in revenue for distillers, according to the trade group the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.

Overall, the U.S. imported about $846.1 million of the products on the import ban list in 2025, per U.S. trade data.

“I see this very much in the spirit of kind of tit-for-tat,” Doh said.

The dairy import ban focuses on whey, a byproduct of cheese-making that can be used to add protein to products.

The demand for products with added protein has skyrocketed, causing shortages of food-grade whey protein and pushing prices to new records.

According to U.S. trade data, almost half of the $73.6 million in general whey and modified whey that the U.S. imported in 2025 came from Canada, although the whey products included in the ban are a smaller fraction of that.

Eight different types of whey, including protein concentrates and modified whey, are included in the current ban.

Some molasses products are also included in the ban.

The import ban includes motorcycles and mopeds with larger engines, which make up the vast majority of motorcycles imported to the U.S. from Canada.

But it isn't a big percentage of U.S. imports of motorcycles overall. Of the $943.7 million in motorcycles imported by the U.S. in 2025, the type of motorcycle under the ban that came from Canada made up less than 9% of that, or about $80.6 million, according to U.S. trade data.

The changes made to the tariff list weren't all bans. Several products — including cement, toilet paper, bedsheets and fishing rods — will be struck from the tariff list.

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is locked in a tough fight for reelection, had urged the administration to spare cement and paper from the tariffs, saying last month that the levies “could jeopardize’’ the viability of Maine companies and “the jobs that they support.’’

Barry Appleton, co-director of the New York Law School’s Center for International Law, said the administration’s latest moves — banning products and adding key products like steel and aluminum to the tariff list — risk provoking further Canadian retaliation.

“None of it is beneficial in terms of economic efficiency or affordability,’’ he said. “It’s going to reduce consumer choice. It’s going to mess up supply chains.’’

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AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.