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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFILE – In this Sept. 16, 2011, file photo, a mushroom grows at Winslow Park in Freeport, Maine. Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty, File)<\/p>\n
Separate anti-dumping duties are expected to be added later this month.<\/p>\n
The preliminary Commerce investigation said Canadian mushroom producers received unfair government subsidies.<\/p>\n
Mushrooms Canada CEO Ryan Koeslag said last week that Canadian growers haven\u2019t engaged in unfair trade practices and producers are not receiving special treatment.<\/p>\n
In a news release, Koeslag said the Commerce department\u2019s justification is linked to mainstream agricultural tax treatment, including provincial sales tax exemptions available to farmers generally.<\/p>\n
\u201cTreating broad-based agricultural tax measures as unfair subsidies is contrary to common sense and unfairly penalizes Canadian mushroom growers for participating in programs available across the agricultural sector in any number of countries,\u201d Koeslag said.<\/p>\n
Mushrooms Canada said under U.S. trade law, a subsidy must meet specific legal requirements before it can be countervailed and the group does not believe those requirements have been met.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is difficult to reconcile Commerce\u2019s preliminary approach with the fact that comparable agricultural tax treatment exists in the United States,\u201d Koeslag said.<\/p>\n
The Commerce department launched the investigation in January after receiving a complaint from the U.S.-based Fresh Mushrooms Fair Trade Coalition. The group said tax exemptions meant Canadian mushrooms were unfairly subsidized and claimed Canadian mushroom imports had grown in recent years while domestic mushroom consumption remained relatively flat.<\/p>\n
Giorgio Mushroom Co., which is part of the U.S. coalition, said in a news release Monday that the duties are an important step.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, American mushroom growers have faced enormous pressure from unfairly subsidized mushroom imports that distorted competition and threatened domestic production,\u201d said Giorgio Mushroom CEO Mark Currie.<\/p>\n
William Pellerin, a partner in international trade at McMillan LLP, said the Commerce investigation would not look at the specific agriculture subsidies that U.S. producers might be receiving \u2014 even if it is similar to what Canadian companies get.<\/p>\n
Pellerin, who is not involved in the mushroom case, noted the preliminary subsidy amount is extremely low but the Commerce investigation into Canadian mushrooms is still ongoing.<\/p>\n
When Canadians think of countervailing and anti-dumping duties they often look to lumber tariffs. Those tariffs, which predated the Trump administration, have also increased in the last year.<\/p>\n
Pellerin said Commerce investigations like the one around fresh mushrooms generally are not U.S. administration-led tariffs.<\/p>\n
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The Canadian mushroom industry would be able to push back on the countervailing duties under the appeal mechanism through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.<\/p>\n
Countervailing and anti-dumping duties are separate from U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s massive tariff agenda. Trump has used different tools to hit countries around the world with tariffs and Canada is also being hammered by his sector-specific duties on things like steel, aluminum, automobiles and cabinetry.<\/p>\n
But Trump\u2019s push to realign global trade through tariffs may see more agricultural industries in the United States follow the mushroom coalitions\u2019 lead and push for Commerce investigations, Pellerin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s going to be not just the United States,\u201d Pellerin said. \u201cWe are seeing them in Canada vastly increase also where Canadian associations are bringing cases against agricultural products from around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2013 The United States has put countervailing duties on fresh mushrooms grown in Canada following a U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-679098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}