U.S. poised to lift some tariffs on Canadian goods after Maine senator's push

The United States is poised to lift tariffs on some Canadian products, including certain agricultural and forestry goods, following lobbying from Republican politicians in border states. A White House proclamation altering the tariffs could come as early as Friday, according to a media report. The move comes as Republicans face political pressure ahead of the November midterm elections, with the trade dispute proving unpopular among American voters. Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Friday that the Trump administration will scrap tariffs on some paper and plastic products, refrigeration and packaging equipment, agricultural machinery, and seaweed and algae products. Collins said she helped secure the exemptions for products crucial to Maine's agricultural industries, including blueberry, potato, apple and seaweed producers. "In my repeated conversations with Ambassador Greer, Secretary Lutnick, and other senior Administration officials, I have asked for tariff relief for these important products," Collins wrote in a social media statement.

She said these Canadian products are essential to some Maine businesses and farms and cannot be easily replaced with U.S. alternatives. Collins noted that Maine's blueberry growers rely on Canadian-made specialized harvesting boxes that work with existing processing equipment. A U.S. supplier of cardboard totes widely used in the agricultural sector recently stopped making that product, leaving producers with no choice but to turn to Canada, she said. "I will continue working directly with administration officials to seek additional relief and encourage a broader trade agreement with Canada, our neighbour, ally and largest trading partner," Collins said.

Collins, a moderate Republican in a tight race for re-election against Democrat Troy Jackson, has previously pressured the administration to drop U.S. tariffs on products like road salt. Another border state Republican Senate candidate, Michigan's Mike Rogers, has also publicly called for an end to the trade war with Canada, saying the tariffs have raised prices amid high inflation. The Trump administration hit these products with a 50 percent tariff in August, apparently retaliating for Canada's countermeasures on some U.S. goods imposed after the president first launched his trade war last year. President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Canada "very much wants to make a deal" with the U.S. to restore trade peace. "Canada now is very much prepared to make a deal," Trump told reporters, while falsely claiming Canada had been making "$90 billion a year" from the U.S. That appears to be a reference to the U.S. trade deficit in goods with Canada, which the U.S. Trade Representative pegs at $48.3 billion US. Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a bilateral visit to Turkey on Friday that Canada is open to a mutually beneficial deal with the U.S. that protects Canadian interests, but the government is in no rush. "We could sign it this afternoon if the U.S. were there. If it has to be months from now or longer than that, or another administration, before a proper deal comes into place, we will do that," he said.

The tariff climbdown coincides with a legal challenge against the duties. A New Jersey food importer, Gellert Global Group Corp., has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade over the Trump administration's use of a dormant 1930 tariff authority against Canada. The complaint, filed on Oct. 20, puts the cost of a 50 percent duty on Canadian cheese at roughly $40 million a year for its own business and asks the court to declare the tariffs unlawful. Canada matched the U.S. measures dollar for dollar, with counter-tariffs effective Sept. 8 covering products worth $27.6 billion in imports from the United States.

With files from CityNews, CBC News and The Globe and Mail