Ottawa’ seafood tariffs risked the ‘start down an unfortunate road,’ industry warned

OTTAWA — The Liberal government roiled fears in Canada’s fisheries industry this week about further escalation in the ongoing trade war, when Ottawa put U.S. fish and seafood imports in its tariff crosshairs.

So when the government turned around and ditched its planned seafood tariffs just a day after announcing them, the industry reacted with relief — even if Canada-U.S. trade isn’t out of the woods just yet.

Canada introduced sweeping tariffs on Tuesday, identifying more than 900 U.S. products that would get slapped with import duties ranging from 15 to 50 per cent.

That included a 25 per cent tariff on a range of fresh and frozen U.S. seafood and fish, including trout, eels, carp, tuna, lobster, oysters, shrimps and salmon.

“Canada’s imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on American seafood was strategic and deliberate, but it was likely to prompt a response from the Trump administration that would have been 25 per cent or greater back tariff on Canadian seafood,” said Stewart Lemont, managing director of the Tangier Lobster Company.

“It was the start down an unfortunate road.”

The seafood tariffs marked the first time Canada put any kind of substantial pressure on the U.S. seafood sector in its trade dispute with President Donald Trump’s administration — taking Canada’s seafood industry by surprise and drawing immediate cries from south of the border.

When Canada drew up its list of initial tariff countermeasures in March last year in response to Trump first launching his trade war against Canada, the only U.S. seafood products Ottawa put in its crosshairs were shrimp and fish oil.

“It’s important to keep food and protein out of the tariff wars,” said Geoff Irvine, head of the Lobster Council of Canada. “Everybody has to eat and we don’t want any additional inflation and costs for food products.”

Lemont said the U.S. does not currently tariff Canadian seafood thanks to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.

“Everything is interconnected, so it was a relief to have the Canadian government withdraw it. But nevertheless, I’m of the belief, and I know many others in our industry are as well, that we have to stand up for Canada. This is a sovereignty issue.”

Canada’s seafood sector is closely integrated with the United States, similar to the automotive industry. Both countries are each other’s top destination for lobster exports.

“It was concerning for industry because the United States is a very important market for Canadian seafood and if we did see retaliation from the United States, it could put a lot of Canadian markets in jeopardy that they had developed in the U.S.,” said Peter Chapman, founder of the consultancy SKUFood.

“There’s certain segments of the market where the processing is almost like the auto industry, where the product goes back and forth (across the border). If we had dealt with tariffs on both sides, it would become very expensive and very complicated.”

Ottawa’s tariff move rankled U.S. politicians and fisheries, which send shellfish north of the border for processing in Atlantic Canada.

The Maine Lobstermen Association warned its members could become “collateral damage” in the ongoing trade dispute.

“Losing access to such an important market at the height of our fall season could be devastating to fishers and coastal communities,” its executive director Patrice McCarron said in statement to media on Wednesday.

By late Wednesday, the Finance Department said after getting “feedback” it would pull the seafood tariffs from the list that goes into effect on Sept. 8 to “protect against broader economic harms.”

Speaking at a news conference in Toronto on Thursday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the decision shows the government listened to Canadians and stakeholders concerned by the countermeasures.

“My job is to fight for Canadian business, to fight for Canadian industry, to fight for Canadian fishers,” Champagne said.

“We made the update because I think that was the right thing to do in the interest of Canada.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer warned in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday that if Canada “further” retaliates, the U.S. would not “just sit down and take that.”

Champagne said the government does not “want any escalation” in the trade war, but must respond to damaging U.S. tariffs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press