4 years of Donald Trump has been tough on northern Ontario's economy, say industry officials

Two years ago, U.S. president Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, arguing it was a threat to national security.

It was definitely a threat to 160 workers at Tenaris Tubes in Sault Ste. Marie, who have been off the job since then.

"It's going to take years to repair the damage that's happened to the relationship between Canada and the U.S." says Cody Alexander, president of United Steelworkers Local 9548.

After a total mill shut down a few years ago, he says Tenaris had been ramping up production on its piping for oil and gas exploration through 2016 and 2017, when the tariffs suddenly hit.

Alexander says he does have 200 members still on the job, exclusively filling orders for the Canadian market.

And while he is hoping for more stability in the U.S. after this election, he's more concerned about what the Canadian government isn't doing.

Alexander would like to see our government allow unions to bring forward international trade complaints and would like recognition that most U.S. mills operate under weaker environmental restrictions, which have been further deregulated in the last four years, putting Canadian steel producers at an unfair disadvantage.

"There's things we could do to protect our workers, instead of focusing and blaming the United States for our woes," he says.

Some in northern Ontario's forest industry are hoping Americans will pick a new president this week, but not sure it will change much in the softwood lumber dispute.

For decades, Canada has complained about tariffs being slapped on lumber, by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Jean Brodeur the director of communications forEACOM, which runs sawmills in Timmins, Elk Lake, Gogama and Nairn Centre calls them "completely unfair and uncalled for."

But while they are expected to be reduced later this year as part of an ongoing trade review, he doesn't think electing a new president will change much for northern Ontario mills.

"So we're not expecting much difference between the two. Other than a change in maybe climate and maybe giving us as Canadians a chance to go back and maybe re-negotiate," he says.

"We need to be able to solve this once and for all."

Brodeur says despite the tariffs, 2020 has turned out to be a good year for northern Ontario lumber.

He says predictions of a surging U.S. housing market came true despite the pandemic and Eacom saw record sales south of the border.

"Those that are hurt the most [from tariffs] are the Americans. The homebuilders. They're the ones really paying for this," says Brodeur.

The prices northern Ontario farmers get for canola and other grains have gone dramatically up and down since 2016, largely because of rocky relations between the U.S. and China.

Terry Phillips, who farms 400 acres in Kerns Township just outside New Liskeard, says prices for soy beans have suddenly jumped 20 per cent this fall, which he believes is because Donald Trump is busy campaigning.

But he's also seen the price of canola drop by $100 per tonne in a trade war sparked with the American arrest of a Chinese tech executive.

"So it's been anup-and-down market, depending on the day and depending on whether Trump pokes China in the eye," he says.

Phillips says U.S. grain farmers also receive billions of dollars in government subsidies every year, making it tough for Canadians to compete.

He says those policies have been supported by both parties in the past, but notesthatat least a Democrat administrationwould be more predictable and make it easier for him to know what to plant in his fields next spring.