OTTAWA — Provincial guidelines round alcohol and the federal authorities’s “Purchase Canadian” coverage have been flagged in a brand new report citing a number of commerce irritants between Canada and the U.S.
The annual doc ready by the Workplace of the USA Commerce Consultant mentioned market entry limitations imposed by provincial liquor management boards “vastly hamper” exports of U.S. wine, beer and spirits to Canada.
A number of Canadian provinces pulled American booze from cabinets final yr after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and the doc mentioned the U.S. needs its alcohol to “instantly and completely” return to all markets.
The doc additionally raised issues in regards to the federal authorities’s “Purchase Canadian” procurement coverage that goals to make sure Canadian merchandise and employees are prioritized in contracts price $25 million or extra.
The report says U.S. firms have reported issues about limitations in competing for contracts, together with being pressured to share details about their boards of administrators or show their Canadian subsidiary’s independence from a U.S. father or mother firm.
Different points listed within the report embrace delays with plane validation in Canada and excessive tariffs on U.S. dairy merchandise.
The report mentioned U.S. imports above quota ranges are topic to “prohibitively excessive tariffs,” together with 245 % for cheese and 298 % for butter.
The report mentioned U.S. items exports to Canada totaled $336.5 billion in 2025, down virtually down 4 % from 2024. It additionally mentioned Canada was the second largest U.S. items export market final yr.
Commerce talks with Canada forward of the obligatory evaluation of the continental commerce pact are lagging behind these with Mexico, United States Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer mentioned final month.
Greer advised Fox Enterprise that talks are transferring forward along with his Mexican counterparts because the Trump administration negotiates modifications to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Settlement on commerce, higher often known as CUSMA.
CUSMA — which was negotiated in the course of the first Trump administration to interchange the North American Free Commerce Settlement — has shielded Canada and Mexico from the worst impacts of Trump’s tariffs. His worldwide 10 per cent obligation doesn’t apply to items that adjust to the commerce settlement.
Canada continues to be being slammed by Trump’s separate tariffs on industries like metal, aluminum, autos, lumber and cupboards.
The Trump administration has launched investigations underneath Part 301 of the Commerce Act of 1974 of a protracted record of nations, together with Canada, citing pressured labour in provide chains. It was seen as a transfer to revive Trump’s greater tariffs following a U.S Supreme Courtroom ruling that reined within the president’s tariff powers.
The report on overseas commerce limitations mentioned that whereas Canada has adopted measures supposed to cease the importation of merchandise produced utilizing pressured labour, “it doesn’t seem that Canada is successfully implementing its pressured labor import prohibition, that means items made with pressured labor could possibly enter and compete in Canada’s market.”
“This subject might artificially suppress prices, together with labor prices, which can give sure items from and inside Canada an unfair benefit,” the report mentioned.
Greer has complained that Canadians preserve limitations that make it tough to carry bilateral commerce talks, citing provincial bans on U.S. alcohol.
The connection between Canada and the USA has been upended in the course of the second Trump administration by the president’s tariffs and threats of annexation.
CUSMA is up for evaluation this yr however the way forward for the continental commerce settlement has been left unsure by Trump. He has referred to as CUSMA irrelevant and has mentioned it could have served its objective.
Greer additionally has floated the thought of abandoning the commerce pact in favour of two separate bilateral agreements with America’s closest neighbours.
The CUSMA evaluation units up a three-way alternative for every nation to make in July. They’ll renew the deal for an additional 16 years, withdraw from it or sign each non-renewal and non-withdrawal — which might set off an annual evaluation that might preserve negotiations going for as much as a decade.
Ottawa and Mexico Metropolis have each mentioned the precedence is to keep up an settlement between all three international locations.
LeBlanc led a big commerce mission to Mexico final month and a Mexican commerce delegation is about to journey to Canada in Might.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 31, 2026.
—With information from Kelly Geraldine Malone
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press