White House says the US is lifting tariffs on some Canadian goods

JUST IN: White House says the US is lifting tariffs on some Canadian goods starting October 30, after Republican Senator Susan Collins said she lobbied for relief ahead of the midterms.

The White House is lifting tariffs on some Canadian goods, eleven days before the midterms. Timing is everything in this business.

Starting October 30, plywood, some paper products, machinery and refrigeration equipment come off the fifty percent tariff list. You can see where this war has been fought, right at the border. But here's the detail doing the talking. Susan Collins announced the relief before the White House did, and she's in a tight Senate race in Maine, where agriculture and forestry are big business. The Wall Street Journal reported the exemptions were designed to help her and other Republicans on November 3.

Meanwhile Mark Carney isn't exactly rushing to the table. He said Canada could sign a deal this afternoon if the US were there, or wait months, or wait for another administration entirely. That's a man who thinks time is on his side.

So tariff relief arrives precisely where the votes are needed. Draw your own conclusions, I've drawn mine.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.