By Sumayya
Maine Democrat Troy Jackson has defeated long-time Republican officeholder Susan Collins to win a U.S. Senate election that was, in part, influenced by the trade dispute between Canada and the United States.
It contributed to a large victory for Democrats that allowed them to take control of the Senate and penalized supporters of President Donald Trump.
“We have to stand up to Donald Trump. We have to stand up for our democracy,” Jackson expressed to his followers during a victory speech.
Maine, a Northeastern state that touches New Brunswick and Quebec, buys billions of dollars in goods from Canada, including electricity, seafood, and plastics. Poll numbers showed that most voters in Maine were unhappy with Trump’s actions that have raised energy costs and caused Canadian tourism to drop sharply.
Collins openly disagreed with Trump’s taxes on Canadian goods and asked for special exceptions, though Jackson argued she had not done enough to oppose the president’s overall tax rules.
Many voters who spoke to reporters on Tuesday hoped for a finish to the trade fight between the two nations that Trump began after entering office last year.
Sydney Olson stated she does not understand why the United States would start a trade dispute with Canada. She mentioned that the economy influenced her vote for Jackson.
“There’s hardly any Americans who want Canadians to be antagonized and want to be in a trade war with Canada,” Olson shared outside a Bangor voting location Tuesday.
“We have no problem with Canada. We love Canada. Why bother?” Michael Furrow, a retired military worker, mentioned he voted for Collins because of her skill in getting national money for projects important to Maine’s economy.
The 23-year-old stated he also wanted to see an end to Trump’s taxes on Canadian imports.
“Trade needs to be open and free across the border,” Furrow expressed outside the building where he voted Tuesday. “We got two great countries. Work together and I think we can do wonderful things.”
“Canada’s our friend and neighbour. Why should we be treating them like we’re treating them?” Dan O’Connell questioned as he walked into a voting station in Brewer, Maine.
Even though he voted for Collins in the past, O’Connell stated that this year he was prepared to support her rival, partly so a Senate run by Democrats could limit Trump’s trade taxes. Some Republican voters on Tuesday stated they wanted the taxes on Canadian goods to stay, at least a little bit.
“I’d like to see a level playing field,” Mark McPherson expressed after casting his vote for Collins.
McPherson mentioned he agreed with Trump’s claim that the U.S. has been treated unfairly in global trade.
Some voters stated that Canada was at the front of their minds at the voting box.
Donna Twombly, who was born in Maine, shared that her grandparents were Danish citizens who moved to Canada before relocating to the U.S.
Twombly mentioned she was angry when Trump put his first group of taxes on Canada and other nations.
“I went out and bought a Canadian flag,” she shared. “I only found a small one when I went shopping but I put it up on my home.”
National government numbers show the state buys $4.1 billion in goods from Canada each year, making it Maine’s biggest trading partner.
That includes $2 billion in heating oil, more than half a billion dollars in wood products, and $263 million in electricity from New Brunswick.
In an article earlier this year, Maine Governor Janet Mills stated the state’s wood product sales to Canada had dropped by 20 percent since Trump started his trade fight, leading to job cuts. The number of visits by Canadians to Maine dropped sharply last year, according to a study of border numbers by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
U.S. trade taxes have hurt New Brunswick’s forestry business and manufacturing factories, and have lowered the earnings of beer makers.
Political observers stated it was not obvious which election result would be better for Canada, or if a good result was even probable.
Collins advertised herself as an independent person who was not scared to separate from her party and vote against Trump on trade taxes she had always opposed.
Jackson, meanwhile, stated Collins had not done enough as a Republican to fight back against the charges.
At a debate last month, Collins stated she pushed the White House to get Canadian concrete, wood pulp, and road salt taken off the tax list.
Jackson answered back quickly, stating, “We can’t eat road salt.”
The argument became very popular online and led to the creation of “let them eat road salt” joke pictures among progressive groups.
And less than two weeks before the midterm votes, Collins announced the U.S. would remove taxes on nine types of Canadian items she stated were vital to Maine’s struggling farming businesses. This was seen as a try by Trump—who did not visit Maine for this election period—to help Collins keep her position.
But in the identical official order that removed some of the taxes, Trump placed new charges on dozens of new categories, such as cocoa powder, paints and stains, shampoos, vinyl floors, archery tools, and rugs.
Trump’s taxes on a collection of countries caused matching retaliatory taxes from Ottawa and a trade fight that has hurt businesses and raised prices on both sides of the border.
The previous group of trade discussions between the two sides stopped in August, though Trump stated Sunday that Canada and the United States were near to making a “very good” trade agreement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney stated Canada has since begun “more intense” trade talks with the United States after speaking with Trump over the weekend.
“We’ve made progress but we haven’t finished,” he told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Antigua and Barbuda.
