Trump's tariffs could shutter this Canadian town - its residents are fighting to save it

As you cross the Ottawa river into Témiscaming, Quebec, the paper mill takes up much of the horizon.

The town itself was built over a century ago, around the mill and the region's forests filled with pine, birch, spruce and fir. Now, the main employer and economic anchor sits idle after trade talks broke down between Canada and the US and President Donald Trump imposed more tariffs on the country.

Most of the mill‘s 360 employees are out of work, kept afloat for the moment with partial pay from government tariff-relief.

For some, like Nadine Suley, the shuttering of the mill could mark not just a lost livelihood, but a lost way of life.

She is not "a city girl", and is heading out moose hunting later to take advantage of the short season, like much of the town. She quips they'll all need the free meat provided by the animals this year.

"It's not just a job. It's our home," Suley says, adding that the US tariffs on her town feel like "a personal attack".

In early October, American owner RYAM went ahead with an "economic shutdown" of the mill for "an indefinite period".

Property values in Témiscaming fell almost overnight, and "For Sale" signs dot the yards of modest middle-class homes that make up most of the town.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)