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Vance asks Mainers to vote Republican — as Trump ups the trade war with Canada

Vice President JD Vance's visit marked his second to Maine's 2nd Congressional District in four months.

By Irie Sentner and Daniel Desrochers

Vice President JD Vance on Monday brought his anti-fraud crusade back to Maine, with a pitch for voters to elect Republicans because they’re bringing down prices for consumers.

But President Donald Trump is making that argument increasingly difficult — especially in this swing district inside a state where the economy is heavily linked to trade with Canada.

As Vance flew toward Joint Base Andrews en route to his speech, Trump was escalating his trade war with Canada, pledging to impose a 50 percent tariff on Canadian vehicles and steel next year, on top of a 50 percent tariff on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods that already went into effect last weekend after trade talks collapsed.

Polls — which Trump on Monday dismissed on Truth Social without evidence as attempts to “demoralize Republicans so that they don’t go out and vote” — have repeatedly shown that Americans are feeling dour about the economy, and blame Trump for it. And the president’s trade war with Canada may be a tough sell for voters in Maine, which borders two Canadian provinces and is one of the northern country’s top trade partners.

“There are real impacts from the tariffs that went into effect over the weekend,” said Patrick Woodcock, the president and CEO of the Maine Chamber of Commerce, pointing out that it will hit Maine’s cement industry, as well as industries that rely on wood and paper products.

But if the optics of a worsening trade war with Canada worried Vance, he didn’t show it. During his speech at the Compotech warehouse in Brewer, he called Canada a “state,” then said it was a “Freudian slip.”

Asked Monday about the trade tensions with Canada, Vance said the White House is “very mindful of the fact that Maine is a border state with Canada” that engages in “a lot of cross-border transaction.” But, he added, “what we’re trying to do here is just make sure that Maine actually gets a fair deal.”

Vance also offered a missive for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “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. Stop taking advantage of America,” he said.

Control of both chambers of Congress is likely to run in part through Maine in this year’s midterm elections. Longtime Sen. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator running for reelection in a state Trump lost in 2024. And Republicans are hoping to flip Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which is open after Democratic Rep. Jared Golden decided to forego running for reelection.

Vance’s Monday visit marked his second to the district in four months. In addition to his anti-fraud remarks, he was on hand to stump for former Gov. Paul LePage, Republicans’ nominee for the 2nd District. But neither Collins nor Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles attended Vance’s speech, and both have been publicly critical of Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

The vice president began his remarks by shouting out Charles, whom he called “an amazing fighter for the state of Maine,” and Collins, whom he called “a dear friend” but joked that she sometimes makes his job as president of the Senate “just a little bit harder.”

Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Collins, said in a statement that the senator could not attend Vance’s speech due to “a personal schedule,” but they said she “has a great working relationship with the vice president.” A representative for Charles did not respond to a request for comment.

Collins is one of a handful of Republicans who have voted against Trump’s tariff agenda in the Senate — including voting twice to block the tariffs on Canada. She’s pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to exempt certain products such as the state’s signature blueberry and lobster industries.

“I still think imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake,” Collins said on Saturday. “I met recently with the Canadian ambassador. I urged him to make sure that Canada dealt with one barrier that they do have, and that is to dairy products. And I encouraged him to take care of that because I really want us to go back to the very friendly, economically beneficial relationship that we have with our Canadian neighbors.”

Trump’s 50 percent tariffs only hit about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods — items like printer ink, furs and hockey skates — and avoid some of the bigger goods Mainers rely on, like heating fuel.

Still, Democrats are already using the trade war as a line of attack.

“Troy spent most of his life working along the Canadian border, so he knows how important this relationship is to Maine’s economy, and he sees Trump’s tariffs for what they are: a tax on Maine families and small businesses,” Dan Gottlieb, a spokesperson for Collins’ Democratic opponent Troy Jackson, said in a statement to POLITICO.

State Auditor Matt Dunlap, LePage’s Democratic challenger, said in a statement that LePage “brags about his direct line to the White House,” which he said has resulted in “higher prices, a trade war with Canada raising prices, Medicaid cuts, closed maternity wards, and sending our shipbuilding jobs overseas.”

In Maine, forestry products are one of the key industries that will be hit by the tariffs. Scott Beal, who works for Woodland Pulp in Baileyville, said there will be “winners and losers” in the state’s forest products industry. “It’s unfortunate that it’s gotten to this point, and we’d very much like to see everybody get back to the table,” he said.

Woodcock, who leads the state’s Chamber of Commerce, cautioned that the tariffs that took effect over the weekend likely will not “immediately show economic impacts.” But his bigger concern is whether the conflict will expand, particularly if Ottawa chooses to cut off energy exports or if Canadians maintain a long-term travel boycott of the U.S.

In the heat of a trade war last year, Canadian tourism to the U.S. dropped by around 29 percent between June 2024 and June 2025, according to statistics collected by the Canadian government. Car travel to the U.S. declined by 32 percent.

“I do think there are a lot of Mainers that are really hurting from affordability pressures, energy bills,” Woodcock said. “And I do think nationally, and it does play out in Maine, that more volatility, more pressure on the consumer price index, that that is something that people are really paying attention to, especially on the energy side as we approach a Maine fall.”