08/29/2026
This is what Republicans support, tariffs, tax cuts for the wealthy, cutting services that hurt families……
“On both sides of the border, the president’s trade war has driven up the cost of everything from groceries to cars and trucks and construction materials needed to build more homes.
His tariffs on Canadian lumber have hit Maine’s forest products industry hard, with exports to Canada last year falling by 20 per cent. Increasing costs for Canadian wood has impacted supply throughout the industry. As a result, Woodland Pulp in Baileyville was forced to temporarily lay off 144 millworkers last fall. That decision had a ripple effect across the border, impacting more than 50 timber producers throughout the Sussex Region of New Brunswick.
And now the effects of the President’s latest escalation are reaching further into Maine communities.
In the Maine section of the Saint John Valley, about 90 per cent of municipal road salt comes from Canada. In response to the president’s new tariffs, a major Canadian distributor has announced that it will halt deliveries for the foreseeable future. In northern Maine, where measurable snow can arrive as early as late September, the president’s trade war may soon threaten small town public safety.
The damage to our state from the president’s whiplash global trade policies is not just limited to business with Canada.
In Jay, a rural town that overwhelmingly voted for President Trump, a promising project would have turned a shuttered mill into an oriented strand board production facility, creating 125 new jobs. The developer was forced to scrap his plans when tariffs made importing critical equipment from Europe too expensive.
President Trump says his tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to America. In Jay, his tariffs killed 125 of them before they could even be created.
Now Canada is responding with retaliatory tariffs of its own, adding levies to goods that last year made up $170 million of Maine’s exports. These tariffs will make exporting these goods more expensive, worsening the damage to industries and communities that never asked to be caught in this fight — industries and communities that, like Ron Turcotte’s life, don’t fit neatly on one side of the border.
Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance came to Maine and said the Trump Administration is trying to make sure our state gets a “fair deal.” There is nothing fair about a trade war that is raising costs for Maine families, killing manufacturing opportunities, or putting small businesses, millworkers and rural communities in the crosshairs of a fight they did not start.
President Trump must de-escalate his unnecessary trade war before Canada’s retaliatory tariffs take effect September 8.
Earlier this week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that President Trump is treating Canada “like Communist China.” My friend Doug is right: this is no way to treat an ally. In Maine, we sit down with our neighbours and work through our disagreements. We don’t resort to coercion and intimidation to get what we want.
As the Governor of Maine, I want Canadians to know that the people of my state respect your proud history as an independent nation. We will continue to raise awareness about how damaging these tariffs are and push Washington to end this dispute.”
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/im-the-governor-of-maine-this-is-what-i-want-canadians-to-know-about-trumps-trade-war/article_50b08e67-94ca-42e6-bda4-96db75312213.html?fbclid=IwZnRzaAUAIE9wZG9mBWZkaWQWUNae4jTVuFYrdkBu_KoDVtq8wnHC-WV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6lc5aOPA7yHHdfHW3Fjc0RfYsIjIyOatBmaTI0W2qOODAQKVafSMAYTOc6SQ_aem_yNMYjT6lDQDhH8UbfJO22Q
President Donald Trump’s trade war is harming the economies of two countries which are united economically and culturally.
