共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯本周早些时候在刘易斯顿参加竞选活动。
Republican senator Susan Collins at a campaign stop in Lewiston earlier this week.
共和党参议员面临关键连任之战，所在州选民因总统发动贸易战而愤怒 唐纳德·特朗普周五取消了美国对加拿大部分关税，白宫称此举旨在“更好地服务公众利益”，为缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯送上一份大礼，她正面临一场势均力敌的连任竞选，结果将有助于决定民主党能否夺回国会控制权。
Republican senator faces critical re-election battle in state where president’s trade war has outraged voters Donald Trump dropped some of the US’s tariffs on Canada on Friday to “better serve the public interest” the White House said, handing a win to Susan Collins, the embattled Republican senator for Maine, as she faces a tight re-election campaign that will help determine whether Democrats can flip control of Congress.
柯林斯宣布，豁免将适用于九种农产品，包括蓝莓、马铃薯、苹果和海藻。她补充说，该州许多农民依赖从边境对面进口的专用设备和材料，这些“美国供应商无法提供，或若要替代将产生巨额费用”。
Collins announced that several industries the exemptions would apply to nine agricultural products, including blueberries, potatoes, apples and seaweed. She added that many of the state’s farmers rely on specialized equipment and materials from across the border that are “unavailable from American suppliers or cannot be replaced without incurring significant expense”.
“在我与格里尔大使、卢特尼克部长及其他政府高级官员的多次交谈中，我曾要求为这些重要产品提供关税减免，我将继续直接与政府官员合作，争取更多减免，并推动与加拿大——我们的邻邦、盟友和最大贸易伙伴——达成更广泛的贸易协定，”她写道。
“In my repeated conversations with Ambassador Greer, Secretary Lutnick, and other senior administration officials, I have asked for tariff relief for these important products, and I will continue working directly with administration officials to seek additional relief and encourage a broader trade agreement with Canada, our neighbor, ally, and largest trading partner,” she wrote.
白宫还明确表示，某些加工设备——如胶合板、包装箱、纸制品和某些机械——将从关税清单中移除。这些材料对在边境附近经营的缅因州企业至关重要。
The White House also specified that certain processing equipment – such as plywood sheets, packing boxes, paper products, and certain machinery – would be removed from its tariffs. These materials can be crucial for Maine businesses operating close to the border.
“特朗普总统正在进一步细化7月20日和9月8日行动的范围，以更好地服务公众利益，并确保这些措施继续有效抵消加拿大歧视性措施给美国商业带来的负担或劣势，”白宫在一份新闻稿中说。
“President Trump is further refining the scope of the July 20 and September 8 actions to better serve the public interest, and to ensure these measures continue to effectively offset the burden or disadvantage to US commerce from Canada’s discriminatory measures,” the White House said in a news release.
在参议院任职近30年的柯林斯，正在竞选连任，对手是民主党人特洛伊·杰克逊，后者曾在缅因州参议院任职，早年是一名伐木工。这场竞选对民主党夺回参议院控制权的希望至关重要，目前被视为势均力敌。
Collins, who has served in the Senate for nearly 30 years, is running for re-election against Troy Jackson, a Democrat who has served in the Maine state senate and was a former logger. The race is crucial for the Democratic party’s hopes of flipping control of the chamber, and is so far considered a toss-up.
加拿大与缅因州之间的贸易战触动了该州的敏感神经，缅因州严重依赖与加拿大的贸易。该州历史上最根深蒂固的产业——如伐木、捕龙虾和渔业——在特朗普今年宣布关税措施后，预计将遭受打击。
The trade war between Canada and Maine has touched a nerve in the state, which relies heavily on trade with Canada. Many of the industries most entrenched in the state’s history– such as logging, lobstering and fishing – were expected to take a hit after Trump’s tariff announcements this year.
本周早些时候，加拿大总理马克·卡尼表示，美国关税损害了美加两国家庭的利益。他补充称，加拿大对美汽车出口迄今下降了10%，而美国对加出口下降超过20%。
Earlier this week, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said American tariffs hurt both American and Canadian households. He added that auto exports to the US have so far fallen 10%, and US exports to Canada have fallen by more than 20%.
卡尼说：“美国关税颠覆了存在数十年的贸易协定。它们推高了美国家庭的成本，同时让安大略省的工人和企业处于劣势，笼罩在不确定性的阴云之下。”在特朗普对部分加拿大商品征收50%关税（于8月22日生效）后，加拿大宣布采取报复性关税，对价值200亿美元的美国商品征收15%至50%不等的关税。加拿大后来撤销了对美国海产品的关税，这对缅因州的渔业尤为有利。
“US tariffs have upended a trade bargain that’s existed for decades,” Carney said. “They’ve raised costs for American families while putting Ontario workers and businesses at a disadvantage and under a cloud of uncertainty.”After Trump placed a 50% tariff on certain Canadian goods, which began 22 August, Canada announced its own retaliatory tariffs in response, ranging from 15% to 50% on $20bn worth of American goods.
缅因州被视为紫色州（摇摆州），州内许多人——包括柯林斯——认为自己具有独立倾向。柯林斯经常试图与特朗普划清界限，尤其是在贸易政策方面。据《纽约时报》对其投票记录的分析，自特朗普上任以来，她与本党决裂的次数超过任何其他共和党参议员。
Canada later withdrew its tariffs on American seafood, which helped Maine’s fisheries in particular. Maine is considered a purple state, and many within the state – including Collins – consider themselves to have an independent streak. Collins has frequently sought to distance herself from Trump, particularly when it comes to his trade policies, and has broken with her party more than any other Republican senator since Trump took office, according to a New York Times analysis of her voting record.
但该分析发现，在特朗普的第二任期迄今为止，她投票反对特朗普政策的努力很少取得成功。
But her efforts to vote against Trump’s policies have rarely succeeded in his second term so far, the analysis found.
自从取代格雷厄姆·普拉特纳成为民主党候选人以来，杰克逊频繁采用这一攻击路线。在本月初的一场电视辩论中，杰克逊还指出了柯林斯确认保守派联邦最高法院大法官布雷特·卡瓦诺的关键一票。随后，最高法院推翻了“罗诉韦德案”判决。“今晚关乎在关键时刻你站在谁一边，”杰克逊在开场陈述中说。
Jackson has frequently seized on this line of attack since replacing Graham Platner on the Democratic ticket. At a television debate earlier this month, Jackson also pointed to Collins’s crucial vote to confirm conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh. The court subsequently overturned Roe v Wade. “Tonight is about who you stand with when it matters,” Jackson said in his opening statement.