LEEDS, ME: "I disagree with the president on the question of whether or not we should have sustained tariffs without understanding that we have one of the most important relationships that our entire country has, never mind Maine has, with Canada."

That was Bobby Charles, Republican candidate for Governor of Maine, speaking on WGAN News Radio this weekabout the strain the current tariffs are placing on the state's economy and its long standing partnership with its closest neighbor.

Charles said he intends to travel to Washington soon to press Maine's case in person. "I will be down in the White House explaining that we need waivers on the tariffs so that our businesses and supply chains can keep working,” he said, “whether in logging and forest products, in lobstering, or on Main Street from Calais to Fort Kent.”

He pointed to the numbers Maine families are already feeling. Charles cited a $6 billion trading relationship with Canada that he said has fallen 20 percent during the tariff dispute, noted that roughly 60 percent of Maine's lobster catch goes to Canada for processing, and said Canadian visitors have dropped from about 7 percent of the state's tourism to about 4 percent."

Maine has a special relationship with Canada," Charles said on WGAN, likening it to the bond between the United States and the United Kingdom. "We share a family, faith, way of life with Canada."

He framed the fight as a question of what kind of governor Maine needs. "That does not mean that I can't lift the phone," he said. "Indeed, that's the great benefit of having me as governor. I can lift the phone."

A former Assistant Secretary of State and Naval Intelligence officer, Charles has spent years working with federal agencies in Washington. He cast Maine's trade situation as both a local and a national priority. "We are in a trade relationship that is existential for us in Maine," he said, urging federal officials to waive some of the tariffs and let Maine's businesses "prosper in a sustained way."

Bobby Charles is the Republican candidate for Governor of Maine in 2026. Learn more at bobbyformaine.com.