President Trump has just found an unlikely ally on the other side of the aisle.
The rest of his party is screaming about it.
And Rep. Jared Golden, the lone House Democrat willing to say what most won’t.
One Man Standing Against His Own Party
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a sprawling stretch of northern Maine that shares its entire upper border with Canada. His constituents know what a trade dispute with their northern neighbor actually costs. And Golden knows which side of this fight makes sense for the workers in his district.
When Trump’s administration imposed 50% tariffs on more than $20 billion worth of Canadian imports after trade negotiations collapsed, Golden didn’t flinch. He told the Portland Press Herald, “If Canada thinks they’re better off without our goods, I wish them good luck.”
“I suspect in the long run, it won’t go well for them,” he added.
That’s a direct, unhedged endorsement of trade enforcement from a Democrat. His party is not pleased.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded to the new tariffs by promising to match them “dollar for dollar” with retaliatory levies of up to 50% on American goods set to begin September 8. Ontario Premier Doug Ford went considerably further, calling Trump a “dictator,” a “bully,” and “the king of bankruptcies” at a press conference in Hamilton. Ford also told a radio station that Trump could “kiss my ass” before elaborating at the presser that he has “a lot of real estate” available for the purpose.
None of that appears to have rattled Golden.
A Record That Actually Matches the Rhetoric
This isn’t a new position for Golden, and that’s what makes it notable. When the House voted 219-211 earlier this year to pass a resolution disapproving of the national emergency Trump declared to impose tariffs on Canadian imports, Golden was the only Democrat in the entire chamber to vote against it. Six Republicans crossed the aisle to back the resolution. Golden crossed the other direction, alone.
“I’ve loudly supported tariffs as a tool to make America more self-sufficient,” Golden said at the time. “I don’t have plans to take that tool out of the toolbox.”
He also introduced legislation in prior sessions called the BUILT USA Act, which would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports and adjust annually based on whether the US is running a trade deficit or surplus. His argument has been consistent for years: decades of free-wheeling trade deals hollowed out American manufacturing, and tariffs are a legitimate corrective tool, not a political stunt.
Golden represents a district that voted for Trump in all three elections he’s been on the ballot. He’s not seeking reelection, citing threats against his family and the toll political life has taken on them. But walking away from Congress hasn’t made him walk away from his convictions on trade.
Trump laid out the case for the tariffs in a Truth Social post, writing, “Canada has been Ripping Off the U.S.A. for decades. They have been charging our Farmers 400% Tariffs, and more. They have driven many wonderful U.S. companies out of business. For 10 years they wouldn’t certify Gulfstream Jets, until I got involved. They wanted 100% of the market for Gulfstream’s Canadian competitor.”
He also added, “I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable.”
JD Vance made a stop in Brewer, Maine, making the case directly to constituents who live with the consequences of this dispute every day. He told attendees, “We’re very mindful of the fact that Maine is a border state with Canada,” and said the administration’s goal is to make sure Maine “actually gets a fair deal.” Vance also pointed out that Maine dairy farmers can face tariffs as high as 250% when they ship into Canada, while Canadian producers face nothing comparable coming south. He called Canada and Communist China the “two worst countries when it comes to trade policy anywhere in the world.”
What the Rest of the Democrat Party Doesn’t Want to Admit
The argument that Canada has exploited lopsided trade arrangements for years is not some fringe position invented by Trump. Golden has been making it from the Democrat side of the aisle for most of his congressional career. He voted against the original United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement back in 2019, calling it “a missed opportunity to deliver real and lasting change.”
But the rest of his party has decided that opposing Trump on tariffs is more important than asking whether Canada’s trade practices have actually been fair to American workers. The House voted to disapprove of the tariff emergency, cheering as the resolution passed. Democrats celebrated a procedural rebuke of trade enforcement while ignoring the underlying reality that Maine dairy farmers are getting squeezed by 250% tariffs from a country that lectures the US about fairness.
Ford’s bluster about the “king of bankruptcies” plays well in Canadian media. It doesn’t change the math on what Canada charges American farmers to access its market. And Golden, to his credit, isn’t pretending otherwise.
The broader picture here is worth sitting with for a moment. Trump ran on trade enforcement in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Voters in Golden’s district backed him all three times. The argument that tariffs are a legitimate tool to level the playing field for American workers and domestic manufacturing is not a radical position. It’s a position that a significant chunk of the working-class electorate across both parties has held for a long time.
Golden is the exception that proves the rule. He built a career in one of the most Republican-leaning districts held by any Democrat by refusing to follow his party off every cliff. On trade, he reached the same conclusions as the voters in his district through his own independent analysis, not because party leadership told him to. And now that he’s leaving Congress, he’s still not changing his tune to make his colleagues feel better about themselves.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs hit Maine hard in specific ways. Pulp and paper products rank among the state’s largest exports to Canada, and those goods are caught directly in the crossfire. Golden’s district feels this dispute in a way that most Members of Congress do not. And his read is still that Canada picked this fight and will come out worse for it.
The Democrat Party spent years telling working-class voters that free trade was good for them. A lot of those voters concluded otherwise. Golden figured that out earlier than most of his colleagues. His party still hasn’t fully caught up, and the gap between where Democrat leadership stands on trade and where the American working class stands is not getting smaller.
Meanwhile, Canada’s government is threatening to cut off electricity exports to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota as leverage. Ford called it putting “everything on the table.” That’s a negotiating posture, but it’s also an admission that the leverage runs in both directions, which is precisely the point Trump has been making.
Golden said it plainly. It won’t go well for them. That’s not a prediction designed to please anyone. It’s just a read of the situation from a congressman who has spent years thinking about what trade actually does to the people who make things for a living.
Sources: Mediaite, “House Democrat Backs Trump in Canada Tariff Brawl: ‘It Won’t Go Well for Them'”; Portland Press Herald, “‘It won’t go well for them’: Jared Golden sticks with Trump in Canada tariff fight”; The Hill, “Jared Golden backs Trump’s Canada tariffs as tensions rise”; Fox News, “JD Vance tells Maine farmers they face 250% dairy tariffs in Canada”; Global News, “‘Bring it on buddy’: Everything Ontario’s Doug Ford said about President Donald Trump”; Trump’s Truth Social posts via multiple outlets