Modifying the Scope of Products of Canada Subject to the Additional Duties Imposed to Offset Canadian Discrimination Against the United States with Respect to Motor Vehicles

A new presidential proclamation adjusts which Canadian auto and auto-parts products face a 50 percent tariff, the latest turn in a dispute the White House itself set in motion with a July finding that Canada discriminates against U.S. motor vehicle commerce.

The document recounts its own recent history: duties imposed in July, suspended for three days in August after Canada 'expressed a commitment' to change course, then reinstated when Canada allegedly reneged and stopped negotiating in good faith. Senior executive branch officials, unnamed and unquestioned, are cited as the source for the finding that modifying the tariff scope will indeed offset the burden on U.S. commerce, just as the original tariffs supposedly already did.

The proclamation asserts, without elaboration, that shifting some products onto the list and others off it is required by the public interest and consistent with the interests of the United States, phrases repeated so often in the text they start to function as punctuation rather than argument.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.