Nine categories of Canadian exports will escape 50 per cent U.S. duties under a reshuffled tariff regime that simultaneously loads new products onto the list, a shift arriving at the heart of politically sensitive midterm races. The adjustments take effect Oct. 30.
Among the goods winning exemptions are corrugated paper, plastic boxes, plywood sheets, certain paper products, refrigeration equipment, packing crates and several types of agricultural machinery. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said she helped secure relief for products essential to her state’s blueberry, potato, apple and seaweed producers, calling them hard to replace with U.S. alternatives.
The tradeoff carries a cost. The White House, in a fact sheet published Friday, said the exempted items would be swapped for new Section 338 tariffs covering certain valves, carpets and waste products. Running six pages, the list of newly targeted Canadian goods also sweeps in shampoos, cocoa powder products, window air-conditioning units, archery equipment and canoes shorter than 7.5 metres. Washington said the measures would offset “the burden to U.S. commerce while better serving the public interest.”
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Whether or not they fall under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement, all goods are subject to the duties. The roots of the dispute stretch to late August, when the U.S. hit nearly US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods with 50 per cent tariffs after trade talks collapsed. Retaliatory measures from Ottawa followed, and Washington escalated in September by banning imports of certain Canadian goods.
Assessing the latest measures, Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the government remains ready to pursue a mutually beneficial deal. Derek Nighbor, president and chief executive of the Forest Products Association of Canada, was sharper, saying the sector needs “stable, rules-based trade, not constantly changing tariffs.”
Collins, a 30-year veteran of the Senate, faces a tight re-election fight against Democrat Troy Jackson, who has made the trade war a centrepiece of his campaign.
