Trump expected to lift some tariffs on Canadian farm and forestry goods, report says

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to remove tariffs on some Canadian agricultural and forestry products as soon as Friday, though the same move could raise tariffs on other Canadian goods, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal reported that the change is meant to help Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who faces Democrat Troy Jackson in the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm election. The newspaper did not say which products would be affected or by how much. The White House had not announced any tariff change as of midday Friday.

Speaking to reporters Friday morning as he left the White House, Trump said Canada is working hard to reach a trade deal and that the United States holds the leverage. "We have all the cards," he said, CTV News reported.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is continuing to engage with the U.S. government and could sign a deal "this afternoon" if Washington were ready, according to CTV. Carney spoke with Trump about cross-border trade on Wednesday.

Collins has pushed for relief

Collins has called on the administration to ease off on Canada. At a campaign stop in Brewer, Maine, on Sept. 8, she urged the administration to consider exemptions for forest products and said she had raised the cost of tariffs on Canadian road salt for small Maine towns with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the Bangor Daily News reported. "Canada is not China," she said.

The tariffs now in place

Trump signed three proclamations on July 20 putting an additional 50 per cent tariff on separate groups of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, a rarely used law that lets the president retaliate against countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce. The White House said the tariffs responded to Canadian treatment of U.S. motor vehicles, alcohol and dairy, and applied whether or not goods qualify under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. Energy and potash were excluded.

After Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on about $20 billion of U.S. goods, including steel, dairy and farm equipment, the White House announced on Sept. 8 that it would ban imports of some Canadian alcohol and dairy products and widen the tariffs to cover more dairy products and all-terrain vehicles, while removing rock salt and cement.

Canadian lumber also faces separate U.S. tariffs under Section 232 of U.S. trade law, which the Section 338 tariffs do not cover.