FROMA HARROP

This trade war with Canada is not the first. Forty-five years ago, Maine potato farmers piled rotten potatoes at their state’s borders with New Brunswick. Blocking nine crossings, the Mainers accused Canada of unfairly subsidizing its potato growers, thus driving down the prices they could get.

The Maine potato industry had problems other than Canada, namely poor soil management and competition from a place called Idaho. To the growers’ great hurt, lobster joints in the tourist meccas along the Atlantic Coast were posting signs that read, “Maine lobsters, Idaho potatoes.” They seemed unaware that their own state was a major producer of spuds.

The potato war ended up more a skirmish than a war. Nevertheless, 200 state troopers in riot gear were posted at the border crossings to prevent violence. One group of farmers burned the Canadian flag.

But little personal hatred was involved. A reporter from the Canadian Broadcasting Company covering the confrontation concluded that the Americans were “not mad at Canadians.” One leader of the demonstration, a Maine farmer named Mike Brown, noted that his own grandfather had grown potatoes on Prince Edward Island.

It’s 45 years later, and a transcontinental trade war with Canada, declared by Donald Trump, has broken out. Communities on the U.S. side of the border are incapable of feeling, much less joining, Trump’s crusade to make villains out of their Canadian neighbors. They see these efforts to vandalize good relations as an attack not only on their economies but also on traditions of friendship. Border towns from the Atlantic to the Pacific are joining in mutual defense. A small sampling: Massena, NY, and Cornwall, Ontario; Blaine, Washington, and Surrey, British Columbia; Skagway, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon.

Meanwhile, Maine potato growers have changed sides. They are complaining to Sen. Susan Collins that Trump’s tariffs drive up prices for seed and equipment. The Maine Republican warned on the Senate floor that they would cause terrible harm to a variety of businesses in her state.

The trade war is hurting the fishing and lobster businesses. And along the more glamorous coastline, it is decimating tourism. The picturesque coastal town of Ogunquit, Maine, for one, is reported empty of the Canadian tourists who keep business flowing in what is otherwise the off-season.

Up north, it is also threatening the Twin Rivers paper mill in Madawaska, just across the St. John River from Edmundston in New Brunswick. The Twin Rivers Paper Company website notes that “the Madawaska Paper Mill is part of the integrated East Papers pulp and paper complex that includes the Edmundston Pulp Mill.”

Trump has turned what both Madawaska and Edmundston saw as an economic advantage into a chaotic mess sure to cost both places. Collins said the trade war would “devastate” the Madawaska mill.

Speaking of Madawaska, I have a story. We once drove across the “international” bridge toward Edmundston. On the other side, we were confronted by the Canadian border patrol. It was one guy in a booth. The officer asked whether we had this, this or that in the trunk. Our answer was no, no and no.

Finally, he locked his eyes on us and sternly asked whether we were bringing alcohol across the border. Our answer again was no. Then the officer broke into a big smile and said, “Well, go back and get some.”

It turned out that because alcohol taxes were lower in Maine, it had become a Canadian custom to buy booze in Madawaska and bring it home.

It’s hard to see these two peoples hating one another. There are genuine trade issues, but Trump’s efforts to crank up the rage machine have failed to produce results. To locals, they are nuts.

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Froma Harrop can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com.