Trump’s trade fight with Canada hits home along Maine border

Along Maines northern border, ties between the United States and Canada have long extended beyond trade. Families live on both sides, and businesses depend on customers crossing the border. A golf course, the Aroostook Valley Country Club, even straddles the international boundary.

But Northern Mainers say President Donald Trumps trade fight with Canada is straining those cross-border relationships and raising economic concerns in communities like Fort Fairfield, located about two miles from the international boundary.

Retiree John Foster, who lives in Fort Fairfield, told Scripps News Group that his towns location puts it in a particularly difficult position.

The economics certainly is a big deal for us, he said Wednesday.

Most towns, he explained, in the U.S. have a 360-degree area that they can haul business from.

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[Half] of that is all Canada, adding, a lot of that is not coming here.

The political fallout could also carry implications for incumbent Republican Susan Collins, who has represented Maine in the U.S. Senate since 1997 and is seeking re-election in the November midterms.

Foster, who is retired and has family on both sides of the border, said he has supported Collins every time shes run.

Now, he says he wont vote for Collins, though he said he still considers himself a Republican.

What changed?

Trump, Foster said flatly.

The Congress is not doing their job; they're not standing up, he added.

The economic dispute has included U.S. tariffs, some up to 50%, on Canadian goods and retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada, adding to tensions between the longtime allies.

Those tensions are visible plainly at the Aroostook Valley Country Club, which nearly entirely lies in Canada, but runs along the American border.

On Wednesday, a parking lot on the American side of the border across from the clubhouse was empty and partially overgrown. A single small red sign reading, No access beyond this point, was the only indication that things have changed.

Canadian retiree Leroy Turner, who stopped his golf cart to chat with the Scripps News Group Wednesday, shouted across the border that the club has seen a decline in members from Maine, big time.

It's gone from 150 to 175, [or] 200 down to 25 members from Maine, he said Wednesday.

Turner, who lives seven miles from the border, said making regular crossings is harder than they used to be, and Canadians along the border have changed their habits about crossing into neighboring Maine communities.

We used to cross and buy stuff because it was cheaper, you had more to choose from, Turner said. People aren't doing that now.

In northern Maine, its not clear if a change in which party controls Congress will be enough to de-escalate tensions between Washington and Ottawa.

Until your management changes, I think it's going to stay that way, Turner said. We used to go to Fort Fairfield, Maine, every week. Now, [we] go once in a while.