Gov. Janet Mills has taken her long-running fight with President Donald Trump over tariffs directly to Canada, publishing an opinion column in one of the country’s largest newspapers and assuring Canadians that Maine does not support Washington’s escalating trade dispute with its northern neighbor.
Mills used a Sunday column in the Toronto Star to urge Trump to de-escalate the trade battle before a new round of retaliatory Canadian tariffs is scheduled to take effect Sept. 8.
“I want Canadians to know that the people of my state respect your proud history as an independent nation,” Mills wrote, according to the Bangor Daily News. “We will continue to raise awareness about how damaging these tariffs are and push Washington to end this dispute.”
The unusual direct appeal from a sitting American governor to Canadian readers adds another chapter to Mills’ increasingly public battles with the Trump administration and raises questions about just how far Augusta intends to go in positioning Maine independently from Washington on international trade.
Mills argued that the looming Canadian tariffs could affect approximately $170 million in Maine exports and harm industries and communities that had little role in the dispute.
Canada announced the retaliatory tariffs after trade negotiations with the Trump administration broke down earlier this month. The new duties are expected to cover roughly $20 billion in American products.
Maine could be particularly exposed because of its unusually close economic relationship with Canada.
The state shares a roughly 600-mile border with Canada, which has long been Maine’s largest international trading partner. Mills has previously said Maine and Canada exchange more than $6 billion in goods annually and that more than 80 percent of Maine’s heating fuel and gasoline comes from Canada.
Mills has made opposition to Trump’s tariff strategy a centerpiece of her economic criticism of the White House since the president returned to office.
In February 2025, she warned that broad tariffs on Canadian products would increase the price of energy, food, automobiles, construction materials and other goods used by Maine families and businesses.
She continued that criticism throughout Trump’s second term.
Following a February 2026 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against portions of Trump’s tariff program, Mills called the levies “unnecessary and harmful” and described them as tax increases that had raised costs for Mainers.
Her latest intervention, however, is different.
Rather than speaking from Augusta to Maine voters, Mills addressed Canadians directly.
That creates a political question beyond the merits of the tariff policy itself: How involved has the Mills administration become in working with Canadian officials and organizations to counter the Trump administration’s trade strategy?
The governor’s office could clarify whether Canadian officials, provincial governments, trade organizations or representatives of the Toronto Star approached Mills about the column and whether Maine officials coordinated messaging with Canadian counterparts before publication.
It is also unclear whether the governor or members of her administration have held recent conversations with Canadian officials specifically regarding retaliatory tariffs.
Those questions matter because the economic consequences cut both ways.
Mills highlighted Maine companies that she says have already suffered from tariff uncertainty, including a Baileyville wood pulp operation that temporarily laid off 144 workers and a proposed redevelopment of the former Jay paper mill that was abandoned amid concerns over the cost of importing European equipment.
Canada, meanwhile, recently agreed to spare Maine seafood from its upcoming retaliatory tariffs after industry representatives warned that the duties could devastate fishing communities, according to the BDN.
For Maine’s border communities, the dispute is far from theoretical.
Canadian tourists spend money in Maine hotels, restaurants and stores. Maine companies sell products north of the border, while businesses throughout the state depend on Canadian fuel, lumber and other materials.
Mills argues Trump’s policies threaten that relationship.
Trump has taken a fundamentally different view of tariffs, using them as leverage to push trading partners toward concessions and arguing that America’s massive trade market gives Washington negotiating power that previous administrations failed to use aggressively enough.
The result is now landing directly on Maine’s doorstep.
And Mills, with just months remaining in her final term as governor, has made clear that she intends to continue challenging the president, even if that means taking the fight across the border.
The next question is whether her appeal to Canadians was simply an opinion column from a governor worried about Maine businesses, or one part of a broader effort by Augusta to work around Washington as the U.S.-Canada trade battle escalates.
No sorry Mills, not all Mainers agree with you. Canada has had tariffs on Maine goods and the US in general for yrs. Why shouldnt we put tariffs on their goods coming into our country. Speak for yourself, not the entire state of Maine.