Ottawa reversed its planned retaliatory tariffs targeting U.S. fish and seafood after warnings that the levies could damage Atlantic Canada‘s seafood industry, including the processing in New Brunswick of Maine lobsters. Canada announced late Wednesday that it is removing the items from a list of retaliatory tariffs that are due to kick in on Sept. 8.

Both U.S. and Canadian politicians on the Atlantic seaboard welcomed the policy reversal.

Two federal government sources said the change was made after it became apparent that imposing tariffs on U.S. seafood could harm Atlantic Canada’s seasonal fishing and fish processing, which is closely integrated with the U.S. industry. Huge volumes of seafood caught in coastal waters off Maine are processed in plants in New Brunswick. In the fall, almost half of the Maine lobster catch goes to Canada for processing. The planned tariffs would have been applied to those lobsters.

In a statement, the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters’ Federation thanked the government “for listening to the concerns of the industry.” “The seafood sector is fundamentally different from many other industries. Independent fish harvesters operate in a highly integrated, time-sensitive supply chain that crosses provincial and international borders,” it said. “Harvesters, buyers, processors, trucking companies, cold-storage facilities, wholesalers and retailers are interconnected. In many cases, the market for a Canadian landed product is dependent upon an established processing, distribution and customer network in the United States.”

Maine Senator Susan Collins said in a social-media post Thursday that she very much appreciated 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,” she said.

Source: The Globe and Mail