WASHINGTON, D.C. –U.S. Senator Angus S. King, Jr. (I-Maine), yesterday met with a group of Maine paper mill employees and members of United Steelworkers (USW). The group represented five mills across the state including Sappi Fine Paper in Westbrook and Skowhegan, Verso Paper in Bucksport, and NewPage and Huhtamaki in Waterville.

During their meeting with Senator King, the Maine members of United Steelworkers emphasized their growing concerns over Canadian government subsidies to the Port Hawkesbury paper mill in Nova Scotia. In a letter in early March, Senator King pressed then-U.S. Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk for answers about the Canadian government’s distribution of $124.5 million in what appear to be illegal trade subsidies to the Port Hawkesbury Paper Mill in Nova Scotia that are responsible in part for the elimination of 45 jobs at the NewPage Paper Mill in Rumford, Maine.

Senator King also specifically asked Ambassador Kirk, whose agency has been working to obtain answers for months, to concretely demand an explanation from Canadian officials. Senator King still has not received an acceptable answer from either the Office of the United States Trade Representative or Canadian officials.

“The mills in Maine employ over 7,000 skilled workers like the men and women I met today. These are people who are not looking for a handout. They do not need to rebuild their communities. They have a well-paid workforce and they kept jobs in this country even when it might have been easier to move them overseas,” Senator King said. “Mill management and workers continue to make every effort to increase efficiency in a challenging global marketplace, but find themselves having to defend against illegal and unfair trade subsidies. They need to know, as I told them, that we have their back. I fully intend to continue to push the U.S. Trade Ambassador and Canadian officials for answers.”

Since entering office, Senator King has made trade-related issues one of his highest priorities. In addition to pressing the U.S. Trade Ambassador on illegal Canadian subsidies, he has also urged top U.S. trade officials to vigorously defend Maine jobs like those at the New Balance facilities in Norridgewock, Skowhegan, and Norway. Specifically, Senator King asked then-Ambassador Kirk to forego any discussion during the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations of ending rubber and plastic footwear tariffs because of the potentially catastrophic result it could have for New Balance and its employees. Senator King has also spoken with Ambassador Kirk’s successor, Acting Ambassador Demetrios Marantis, to reiterate his concerns.

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