Nine Maine agricultural products win relief

Senator Susan Collins announced that the tariff exemptions would apply to nine agricultural products, including blueberries, potatoes, apples and seaweed. She argued that many Maine farmers rely on specialized equipment and materials from across the border that are "unavailable from American suppliers or cannot be replaced without incurring significant expense".

• •Blueberries
• •Potatoes
• •Apples
• •Seaweed

Collins said she had repeatedly asked Ambassador Greer, Secretary Lutnick and other senior administration officials for tariff relief, and that she would keep pressing for a broader trade agreement with Canada, which she called the US's neighbor, ally and largest trading partner.

What the White House said it removed

Alongside the agricultural products, the White House said certain processing equipment - such as plywood sheets, packing boxes, paper products and certain machinery - would be removed from the tariffs, materials it described as crucial for Maine businesses near the border.

The administration said Trump was "further refining the scope of the July 20 and September 8 actions to better serve the public interest", offsetting the burden to US commerce from Canada's discriminatory measures. The changes were announced on Friday, when the White House said it dropped some of the US's tariffs on Canada.

The trade fight behind the exemptions

The trade war with Canada has hit a nerve in Maine, whose logging, lobstering and fishing industries were expected to take a hit after Trump's tariff announcements this year. After Trump placed a 50% tariff on certain Canadian goods beginning 22 August, Canada retaliated with tariffs of 15% to 50% on $20bn worth of American goods, though it later withdrew its tariffs on American seafood - a step that helped Maine's fisheries.

Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the tariffs were hurting households on both sides of the border, with Canadian auto exports to the US down 10% and US exports to Canada down more than 20%. "US tariffs have upended a trade bargain that's existed for decades," Carney said, adding that they have raised costs for American families and put Ontario workers at a disadvantage.

A toss-up race and Democratic criticism

Collins, a Republican senator for nearly 30 years, faces Democrat Troy Jackson, a former logger and Maine state senator, in a re-election race considered a toss-up and crucial to Democratic hopes of flipping control of Congress. Jackson, who replaced Graham Platner on the Democratic ticket, pointed to Collins's crucial vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh - after which the court overturned Roe v Wade - at a television debate earlier this month.

Jackson delivered that line in his debate opening statement. Collins has broken with her party more than any other Republican senator since Trump took office, according to a New York Times voting-record analysis, though those votes have rarely succeeded in his second term.

In the view of Democrats, the White House was conceding through its own decision that Trump's Canada tariff policies had not won public support. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, went further, calling the move a "desperate, 11th hour attempt to save Susan Collins' political career". "The only way to get Trump to reverse course," Wyden said, "is for Americans to send a message" that what he called the administration's sabotage of the American economy "has got to go".

Collins said she will continue pressing administration officials for tariff relief and for a broader trade agreement with Canada.