'Why bother?': Maine voters question U.S. attacks on Canada at midterm polls

FREDERICTON – Maine voter Sydney Olson says she doesn’t get why the United States is waging a trade war with Canada.

“There’s hardly any Americans who want Canadians to be antagonized and want to be in a trade war with Canada,” Olson said outside a polling station in Bangor, Maine.

“We have no problem with Canada. We love Canada. Why bother?”

Olson said she voted for Maine’s Democratic candidate for Senate in a race that could decide if U.S. President Donald Trump’s Republicans continue to control the chamber.

In Maine, a border state that has been hit hard by the Canada-U.S. trade war, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins is hoping to hold off Democrat challenger Troy Jackson.

Michael Furrow, a retired military officer, said he voted for Collins because of her ability to get federal backing for projects critical to Maine’s economy.

But the 23-year Maine resident said he also wants to see an end to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports.

“Trade needs to be open and free across the border,” Furrow said outside the arena where he voted Tuesday.

“We got two great countries. Work together and I think we can do wonderful things.”

The economic impact of the trade war has become a key obstacle for Collins, who has asked Maine voters to return her to the upper chamber of Congress for a sixth term.

Polling shows many voters in Maine are unhappy with Trump policies that have pushed up energy prices and caused Canadian tourism to plummet.

Many of those who spoke to The Canadian Press on Tuesday hoped for an end to the tariff skirmish between the two countries that Trump started after coming into office last year.

“Canada’s our friend and neighbour. Why should we be treating them like we’re treating them?” Dan O’Connell asked as he headed into a polling station in Brewer, Maine.

While he voted for Collins in the past, O’Connell said this year he was ready to back her opponent, in part so that a Democrat-controlled Senate could rein in Trump’s tariffs.

But some Republican voters said Tuesday they hope the levies on Canadian imports remain, at least to some extent.

“I don’t want to see them gone but I’d like to see a level playing field,” Mark McPherson said after marking his ballot for Collins.

McPherson said he agreed with Trump’s claim that the U.S. has been “ripped off” through global trade.

A few voters had Canada on their minds on Tuesday.

Donna Twombly, who was born in Maine, said her grandparents were Danish citizens who immigrated to Canada before settling in the U.S.

Twombly said she was angry when Trump imposed his first wave of levies on Canada and other countries last year.

“I went out and bought a Canadian flag,” she said. “I only found a small one when I went shopping but I put it up on my home.”

Maine, a Northeastern U.S. state bordering both Quebec and New Brunswick by land, relies heavily on Canadian trade.

Federal government figures show the state imports $4.1 billion in goods from Canada each year, making it Maine’s largest trading partner.

That includes $2 billion in heating oil, more than half a billion dollars in forestry products and $263 million in electricity from New Brunswick.

In a column published earlier this year, Maine Gov. Janet Mills said the state’s forest product exports to Canada have dropped by 20 per cent since Trump started his trade war, causing job losses.

The number of trips by Canadians to Maine dipped sharply last year, according to an analysis of border data by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

U.S. tariffs have strained New Brunswick’s forestry sector and manufacturing base and has cut into the bottom lines of breweries.

But politics watchers say it’s not clear which result would offer a win for Canada, or if a win is even likely.

Collins has pitched herself as an independent who isn’t afraid of breaking with her party and voting against Trump on tariffs she has long opposed.

Jackson, meanwhile, says Collins hasn’t done enough as a Republican to push back against the levies that have disrupted Maine’s forestry, seafood and tourism industries.

At a debate last month, Collins said she successfully lobbied the White House to get Canadian concrete, pulp and road salt removed from the tariff list.

Jackson snapped back, saying, “We can’t eat road salt.”

The exchange went viral and spurred the exchange of “let them eat road salt” memes among progressives.

Then, with less than two weeks before the midterm elections, Collins announced the U.S. was lifting tariffs on nine categories of Canadian goods she said are crucial to Maine’s hard-hit agricultural industries.

It was seen as an attempt by Trump — who has not campaigned in Maine this election cycle — to help Collins keep her seat.

But in the same executive order lifting some tariffs, Trump imposed new levies on dozens of new categories such as cocoa powder, paints and varnishes, shampoos, vinyl flooring, archery equipment and carpets.

Lori Turnbull, a political-science professor at Dalhousie University, says there isn’t a way for Canada to win despite being at least partly on the ballot in Maine.

Turnbull noted Trump relies on his presidential powers to impose tariffs, going around the legislative branch of the U.S. government.

“I don’t think that any midterm outcome is a guaranteed win for Canada. I think we could still get screwed either way,” she said by phone.

Trump’s levies on a swath of countries triggered retaliatory tariffs by Ottawa and a trade war that has damaged industries and raised costs on both sides of the border.

The previous round of trade talks between the two sides broke down in August, but Trump claimed Sunday that Canada and the United States are “very close” to reaching a trade deal.

Trump told reporters the two countries have a “concept of a very good deal” that would be great for America, American farmers and Canada.