The federal government is walking back counter tariffs on the American seafood sector as the trade dispute between our two countries rages on.
They announced 25 per cent counter tariffs as part of their response to U.S. tariffs earlier this week but according to Finance Canada, have removed seafood and fish products after industry feedback.
They said they are “continually working with Canadian industries to assess the effectiveness of these measures, with a primary focus on industries that have been targeted by U.S tariffs”.
The Fisheries Council of Canada estimates that the Canadian seafood industry is worth $9 billion, and Canada and America’s seafood sectors remain closely integrated.
Susan Collins, the Republican senator of Maine took to X to applaud the decision.
“I very much appreciate Canada’s decision to remove seafood and fish products from its retaliatory tariff list. These tariffs would have caused tremendous harm to Maine’s lobstermen, disrupting one of their most important markets during the fall fishing season,” said Collins. “I urge the U.S. to respond to this show of good faith from our Canadian friends by returning to the negotiating table and working to amicably resolve this trade dispute. Canada is not China. Canada is one of our closest allies and largest trading partners. Our economies are inextricably linked, especially in the border regions.”
Lake America?
Despite the changes, U.S President Donald Trump has continued his anti-Canada rhetoric to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
On Thursday, August 27 he signed an executive order to declare the name change and put it into effect, immediately.
“The lake change, the Lake of America was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time actually. As you know we took something called the Gulf of Mexico and changed it, and now it’s very routinely called the Gulf of America,” says Trump in a video posted to the White House Facebook page.
He went on to say now that the U.S. has a gulf and a lake, all they need is an ocean.
“Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific,” said Trump. “Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Carney says name not changing
In response to Trump’s executive order, in a post on social media, Prime Minister Mark Carney says the name of Lake Ontario is not changing.
