The U.S. Plans To Ban Canadian Dairy, Booze, And The Can-Am Spyder In Escalating Trade War

The United States and Canada have been trading barbs in a trade war that affects the products that regular people buy. The latest salvo is from the States, as the White House has announced a ban on importing some Canadian products. If nothing changes by September 29, the United States will ban the import of some Canadian dairy products, most alcohol products, and, weirdly, the Can-Am Spyder, the Can-Am Canyon, and the Campagna T-Rex. Let’s take a look at how these bans might affect you if you’re a fan of Canada’s raucous three-wheelers.

The United States’ relationship with its neighbors became a bit more strained on February 1, 2025, when President Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on imported goods from Mexico and Canada. Just a few days later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his own retaliatory 25 percent tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the United States. These tariffs went live that March, and the two nations have been involved in an escalating trade war ever since.

The States and Canada have assessed tariffs on a bit of everything from electricity and lumber to metal and appliances. Even clothing, car parts, and food have gotten slapped with tariffs. On August 22, 2026, the trade war clicked up a notch after trade talks fell apart and the United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian imports, or about 5 percent of imports from the nation. Canada snapped back with its own “dollar for dollar” tariffs on U.S. goods on September 8.

The U.S. responded with an escalation of its own tariffs, with one weird inclusion. Canada’s fun three-wheel vehicles, the Can-Am Spyder, the Can-Am Canyon, and the Campagna T-Rex, are due to be banned in only days. That’s only the start of the strange ways new tariffs might impact both Canadian and U.S. vehicles.

Fighting Tariffs With Tariffs

Trying to sum up the entire trade war between the United States and Canada would be difficult to do in a single article, but the U.S. Congress sums it up well:

Under USMCA, Canadian goods that are certified as having met product-specific rules can enter the United States largely duty-free; such goods also have been largely, but not wholly, exempt from U.S. tariff actions. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, in 2025, the United States imposed duties on about 15% of U.S. imports from Canada by value (about $56 billion total), with a total $10 billion in calculated duties (compared to $0.4 billion in 2024). Most Canadian goods entered duty-free, likely because goods were certified as USMCA-compliant. In 2025, President Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA; 50 U.S.C. §§1701 et seq.) and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. §1862). In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held that IEEPA does not give the President authority to impose tariffs. Subsequently, the Administration ended the IEEPA tariffs and imposed a 10%, 150-day “temporary import surcharge” on most U.S. imports, including from Canada, under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. §2132). When these tariffs expired in July 2026, the Trump Administration imposed tariffs on 60 partners, including a 10% tariff on Canadian goods. These tariffs followed an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. §§2411-2420) into “the failure of each economy to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”

Under a separate IEEPA action not affected by the February 2026 Supreme Court ruling, President Trump suspended duty-free treatment for all goods shipments valued at less than $800, including from Canada (19 U.S.C. §1321(a)(2)(C), referred to as de minimis). This action is facing legal challenges. Sectoral Tariffs. In 2025, President Trump eliminated nearly all exemptions, including for Canada, from Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. President Trump also has imposed global tariffs on sectors key to the Canadian economy, including certain copper products, certain lumber and timber products, and vehicles and auto parts.

Canadian Retaliation. Canada initially responded to U.S. IEEPA tariffs with 25% tariffs on C$30 billion (about US$22 billion) worth of U.S. imports. Separately, Canadian provinces and territories announced retaliatory measures related to the sale of U.S. alcohol and government procurement. In response to U.S. sectoral tariffs, the Canadian government imposed 25% tariffs on C$29.8 billion (about US$22 billion) worth of U.S. imports and on non-USMCA-compliant vehicles from the United States, and the non-Canadian, non-Mexican content of vehicles traded under USMCA. Canada has challenged the Section 232 tariffs at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In April 2025, Canada exempted certain sectors and companies from its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. From September 2025, Canada terminated some retaliatory tariffs. Canadian tariffs remain on U.S. vehicles and C$15.6 billion (US$11 billion) worth of U.S. steel and aluminum. The Canadian public also has engaged in an informal boycott of U.S. goods and reduced U.S. travel.

The short version of all of this is that when one nation hits another with tariffs, that other nation is likely to respond in kind with its own retaliatory tariffs. That’s the situation we’re all going through right now, and it does trickle down to the businesses and the consumers who have to wade through the muddy waters.

After Canada and the United States failed to make a trade deal in August, the U.S. slapped Canada with 50 percent tariffs on Canadian cement, clothing, dairy products, fishing rods, furniture, hockey equipment, and wine, which is worth roughly $20 billion. In late August, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who succeeded Trudeau, hit back with tariffs on CAD 27.6-billion (USD 20 billion) of U.S. products imported into Canada. These roughly 700 goods include dairy products, perfumes, floor coverings, kitchenware, wood charcoal, plywood, paper products, clothes, steel products, tubes, tanks, fasteners, and more. These tariffs took effect on September 8.

Motorcycles Get Caught In The Fire

A notable entry on Canada’s list of September 8 tariffs on U.S. goods is a 50 percent duty on imported motorcycles “with internal combustion piston engine of a cylinder capacity exceeding 800 cc.” This one seems aimed squarely at Harley-Davidson and Indian, whose bread and butter is in high-displacement motorcycles.

This tariff is familiar, in a way. Back in 1983, the United States imposed 45 percent tariffs on imported motorcycles with displacements greater than 700 cc to protect Harley-Davidson. Now, Harley-Davidson is on the receiving end of the tariffs. Thankfully for the Bar and Shield, Canada represents only six percent of its customer base. Indian does not say how many of its owners are Canadians.

United States had an immediate response to Canada’s response. Yesterday, the White House announced that it was no longer just going to tariff some Canadian goods, but ban their importation entirely. According to the White House, on September 29 at 12:01 a.m., the United States will ban most forms of Canadian beer, wine varieties, vermouth, cider, brandy, scotch, bourbon, whisky, rum, vodka, gin, tequila, mezcal, bitters, and most other alcohol. Bans on Canadian whey, molasses, and non-alcoholic beer will also take effect the same day.

Meanwhile, the United States will also increase its own tariffs on Canadian aluminum, bamboo furniture, cheese products, and steel by 50 percent, starting next Tuesday. It also plans a 50 percent tariff on Canadian cars on January 1.

America Plans To Ban Some Canadian Motorcycles

Buried in all of this is one more note. On September 29, Canadian imports of “Motorcycles (including mopeds) and cycles fitted with a reciprocating internal-combustion piston engine of a cylinder capacity over 800 cc” will also be banned. This seems to be a response to Canada’s tariffs on U.S. motorcycles, but taken to the extreme.

Canada has a handful of motorcycle manufacturers. There are small outfits that’ll sell you some boutique bike like Lito Motorcycles, Havoc Motorcycles, and Goldammer Cycle Works. There are also countless Canadian dealers slinging all-electric bikes from China. Then there are the more well-known brands like BRP’s Can-Am and Campagna Motors.

Those last two are interesting because, wait, don’t they make three-wheelers? They do. However, to the U.S. federal government, three-wheel vehicles are legally motorcycles. In seeking this ban, the U.S. is effectively going after Canada’s closest thing to Harley-Davidson.

BRP just launched an updated version of the Ryker (above). That trike’s base model does come with a Rotax 600 ACE two-cylinder engine, which comes in at 600cc, but every other trim level has a Rotax 900 ACE triple, which is a 900cc mill. Thankfully, all versions of the Ryker should be safe from the ban as they are made in Mexico. The rest of Can-Am’s three-wheel lineup, the Spyder and the Canyon, come equipped with Rotax 1330 ACE triples, and are made in Canada.

If this ban goes into effect, Can-Am dealers will be left with only a single on-road internal combustion-powered product to sell. Luckily, the ban wouldn’t impact Can-Am’s off-road division or electric motorcycles.

In addition to boutique brands, another company that would be caught up in this is Campagna Motors. Sure, nobody would actually call the Campagna T-Rex a motorcycle; it has a car steering wheel, car seats, and car wheels, but the U.S. government says that it is a motorcycle. Presently, all versions of the T-Rex are powered by a 1441cc Kawasaki inline-four.

Neither BRP nor Campagna says how many of their buyers are in the United States. The Can-Am brand has around 900 dealers in the United States; however, it’s unclear how many of them sell on-road products. At the very least, it’s clear that the United States is a big deal for BRP. I have reached out to BRP for its thoughts on the matter, and received this response:

“We acknowledge the measures announced by the U.S. government on some Canadian goods imported into the U.S. On the basis of the information available at this time, we can confirm that our Can-Am Spyder and Canyon models produced in Valcourt, Canada, will be excluded from importation into the U.S., starting September 29, 2026. The impact of these new U.S. measures are expected to be limited on our fiscal 2027, as the vast majority of production and shipments for the current season are completed.”

It sounds like Can-Am doesn’t have much to worry about, at first. It’s near the end of the year and the motorcycle season is almost over, anyway. But reading between the lines, a ban that stretches out into next year’s riding season might be a problem.

The motorcycles aren’t the only ones being targeted with a ban right now. Yesterday, the President also threatened to ban the sale of Bombardier business jets in the United States unless the company moves manufacturing to this country. Currently, Bombardier has 2,800 suppliers across 47 U.S. states, which make everything from wings and avionics to flight controls and engines.

It is too early to tell what could happen if the ban goes through and sticks around for a while. As we’ve seen with the ban on Polestar, we know these threats are not empty. Can-Am sells the most three-wheeled vehicles in the United States; however, a ban could make a difference. At the very least, Can-Am and Campagna dealers usually have other products and brands to sell that aren’t Spyders and Canyons, so they will still have income streams.

With some luck, we’ll be able to say that these bans will not go through. But time will tell.

Top graphic images: BRP; DepositPhotos.com