Canada could respond to Trump’s tariffs soon. Here’s how it all affects Maine.
The Canada Border Services Agency checkpoint in Saint-Théophile, Quebec, in October 2025. The checkpoint is a short drive from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)
After a brief delay for negotiations last week, the Trump administration enacted new 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods Saturday.
Those tariffs deepened the trade war between the U.S. and its northern neighbor, with each country pointing the finger at the other for the breakdown in negotiations.
Canada plans to implement its own tariffs on American goods in retaliation, starting Sept. 8. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would respond “dollar for dollar,” targeting, among other goods, some of Maine’s biggest exports to Canada: pulp and paper products.
If, as Carney told reporters Saturday, Canada is “at war” with the U.S. on trade, Maine is on the front line.
The new American import taxes cover dozens of Canadian products, from wine to hockey sticks to cement to chemical wood pulp — a primary component in the prominent cross-border industry of paper manufacturing. Also included are cars, dairy products, some machinery, furniture and dozens of other products.
In Brewer on Monday, Vice President JD Vance defended the new tariffs, saying Canada has long treated American goods unfairly, and that the Trump administration was “going to fight back against unfair trade practices, whether it’s coming from China or Canada.”
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While Trump and Carney battle over tariffs, Maine’s businesses, consumers and leaders have an uncomfortable front-row seat.
ON, OFF AND ON AGAIN
President Donald Trump has tried several times to enact sweeping tariffs on Canada, stretching back to the early days of his second term. Nearly every attempt has been shot down by courts.
His newest round of tariffs — the ones that went into effect over the weekend — came via a never-before-used provision of a Great Depression-era law, the Smoot-Hawley Act, which allows the president to issue tariffs in retaliation for unfair trade practices. In three proclamations issuing the new tariffs in July, Trump said Canada was treating American producers of motor vehicles, dairy and alcoholic beverages unfairly.
The U.S. and Canada negotiated for weeks over the taxes, which were originally scheduled to go into effect Wednesday.
At the last minute, Trump paused the tariffs to continue negotiations.
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Trump said on his social media platform that U.S. and Canada, pending “finalization of documents, have a DEAL!”
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But Friday evening, Canada pulled out of those negotiations, Carney said, because the “gap between partnership and competitor” was still too wide. Trump imposed the tariffs Saturday morning.
Now, Carney said Canada plans to introduce its own tariffs on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment and electronics, starting Sept. 8.
Carney also said he planned to target forestry products, one of Maine’s most integrated industries with Canada. Pulp and paper products were among the goods Carney said could be targeted by Canada’s new retaliatory tariffs.
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Vance said Monday that negotiations are ongoing.
“They came in with a bunch of unreasonable, last-minute demands,” Vance said his Monday event. “I frankly thought we had a deal. I think that we should have a deal. But I think that we need to send a message loud and clear to the prime minister of Canada: Stop taking advantage of the people of Maine.”
Carney, in his remarks Saturday, said the U.S., in fact, was the one to demand last-minute changes.
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He said American negotiators changed terms on heavy-duty trucks, wanted to restrict Canada’s ability to make new trade deals with other countries and attempted to weaken protections for Canada’s use of the French language.
MAINE REACTION, IMPACT
The state’s most prominent Republicans have panned Trump’s trade crusade against Canada.
Sen. Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican who is running for a sixth term, said on social media Saturday that the new tariffs would “lead to higher costs, risk and uncertainty for Maine businesses.”
She said she has heard from Maine lobstermen, farmers and business owners about the impact of Trump’s continued tariff pressure on Canada. Collins expects costs to go up on the approximately $2 billion of non-oil goods Maine imports from Canada annually.
“I urge both sides to return to the negotiating table,” Collins said. “The administration must consider the negative impact tariffs would have on Maine businesses, communities, and families, and work to reach a fair agreement with our Canadian neighbors.”
Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for governor, also broke with the Trump administration on the new duties and encouraged a new round of negotiations. Industries are strongly linked across the border, he said in a news release Monday, and new tariffs would “hurt our state.”
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“I understand President Trump’s desire to rebalance unfair trade relationships,” Charles said in the release. “However, a trade war with our northern neighbor, Canada, is unwise and will harm Mainers after years of failed policies from the (administration of Gov. Janet Mills) have brought on the worst affordability crisis in modern times.”
Democrats generally don’t seem to be a fan, either.
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said in a social media post Sunday that new tariffs would be a “disaster for our economy.”
Mills, a Democrat, called the trade conflict “foolish” and said that it would “push costs even higher for Maine families.”
Independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats, has not spoken publicly on the implementation of the new tariffs, but has previously said that tariffs break beneficial bonds between Maine and Canadian businesses.
And Rep. Jared Golden, the outgoing congressman from Maine’s border-lined 2nd District, has previously supported Trump’s attempts to tax Canadian imports, but has not spoken publicly about the newest round.
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Tagged: border, Canada, cost of living, tariffs, Trump administration
Ethan reports on cost of living for the Portland Press Herald. Before he joined in mid-2026, he covered local news in Augusta and surrounding areas and ran a weekly newsletter for the Kennebec Journal. More by Ethan Horton
