Gov. Janet Mills distanced Maine from President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada in a direct appeal to Canadians on Sunday, publishing an Op-Ed in the country’s largest newspaper that decried the federal policy’s impact on businesses and border communities.
The Democratic governor also called on the Republican president to “de-escalate his unnecessary trade war” before retaliatory Canadian tariffs on about $20 billion in U.S. goods take effect Sept. 8. The tariffs are a dollar-for-dollar match on tariffs Trump announced on Canadian imports after trade talks between the countries fell apart earlier this month.
“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,” Mills wrote in the Toronto Star column.
The looming Canadian tariffs would affect Maine-made goods that constituted $170 million of the state’s exports, the governor wrote, dealing blows “to industries and communities that never asked to be caught in this fight.”
She cited examples of how Trump’s global tariff policies have already hit Maine workers and businesses, such as a Baileyville wood pulp plant that temporarily laid off 144 employees due to rising costs from existing tariffs on Canadian lumber, and a proposal to redevelop the former Jay mill that the developer abandoned because importing equipment from Europe would be too costly.
Canada said it would exempt Maine’s seafood industry from tariffs earlier this week after industry groups said they would decimate the state’s fishing communities.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the project that had been planned at the former Jay mill.