Politics
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President Donald Trump may have paused his aggressive plans for new tariffs on Canada, but U.S. Rep. Jared Golden thinks the Republican gained leverage on the nation that borders Maine.
Trump had said over the past weekend that 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with another 10 percent tariff on Canadian oil, natural gas and electricity, would start at midnight Tuesday. America’s two largest trading partners then announced retaliatory tariffs, but by the end of Monday, the three nations had agreed to a 30-day pause on new tariffs to allow for negotiations on issues Trump had raised: drug smuggling and illegal immigration.
Trump’s additional 10 percent tariff on China is still in effect, and the back-and-forth flurry of activity has not quashed fears of a new trade war that would push up prices and impede economic growth, with heating oil, forest products and lobster among potentially affected goods that are key to Maine.
Golden, a Democrat, is the state’s most prominent supporter of the president’s trade and represents the 2nd District, which stretches to the Canadian border. Other Democrats and Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, had criticized the sweeping tariffs. Golden, a rumored 2026 gubernatorial candidate, has embraced the tariffs on Maine’s top trading partner that accounts for 70 percent of the state’s imports and virtually all of its heating oil.
After news of the 30-day pause came Monday, Golden alluded to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying his government would name a fentanyl czar, list Mexican cartels as terrorist groups and launch a “joint strike force” with the U.S. to combat crime, fentanyl and money laundering. That is proof of Trump’s tactics working, Golden said Monday in an interview.
“They need to understand that we’re not afraid,” Golden said of Canada. “We have a bigger market than them. They need us more than we need them.”
While acknowledging the potential for consumers to see higher prices if Trump revives his tariff plan, Golden advocated for revenue from the higher rates to go towards reimbursing Mainers, including heating oil users. Golden, who was vocal in supporting both Trump’s and former President Joe Biden’s tariff policies last year while running for a fourth term, said Trump’s actions will make the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which Golden opposed, easier to renegotiate in 2026.
Still, business groups in Maine that do business with Canada were uneasy about the prospects of Trump’s trade vision. The Maine Forest Products Council noted the state exported 2 million tons of wood and imported 2.3 million tons in 2021, with most of that activity involving Canada. Shawn Hayes, the owner of Moulton Lumber in Cornish, also predicted developers would pull back to assess the longer-term effects of tariffs on building costs that are already high.
In admonishing critics who focus on short-term costs, Golden said supply chains that were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic “need to be disrupted.”
“Now we need to dig in long term and keep them disrupted so that we can rebuild them and preferably closer to home or here at home,” Golden said.
BDN writers Michael Shepherd and Zara Norman contributed to this report.
