The administration of US President Donald Trump will roll back a number of tariffs on Canadian goods that have disproportionately harmed residents of US states bordering Canada.
This was announced on Friday by Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, The Washington Post reports.
The US president is expected to lift the 50% tariffs on products used in agriculture, including corrugated paper boxes and crates; plastic boxes, crates and cases; refrigeration and freezing equipment; purification equipment; and certain types of machinery.
The duties Donald Trump imposed on imports from Canada hit residents of Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire particularly hard. The economic impact has spilled over into three highly competitive Senate races in those states. Susan Collins’s seat is seen as particularly at risk as she seeks re-election in a state where Donald Trump lost the 2024 presidential election.
Her Democratic opponent, Troy Jackson, has made Trump’s trade war with Canada a central campaign issue, and polling in the final week before election day shows them on roughly equal support.
As a reminder, in late August Trump imposed 50% duties on Canadian goods worth about $20 billion—around 5% of Canada’s exports to the United States—after last-minute talks between the two countries collapsed.
Canada responded with its own tariffs, prompting Trump to ban imports of certain Canadian goods and to threaten to double tariffs on Canadian vehicles in January if the sides cannot reach an agreement.