US Tariffs Threaten Paper Mill and Entire Quebec Town of Témiscaming
A paper mill in Témiscaming, Quebec, has been idled after US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Canada. Residents are trying to buy it back from its American owner.
A paper mill in the small Quebec town of Témiscaming, Canada, has sat idle since early October. For more than a century it has been the foundation of the local economy. Its American owner, RYAM, halted operations indefinitely after trade talks between Canada and the US collapsed and US President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs on Canadian goods. The stakes reach beyond a single company: the whole town and the surrounding forestry industry depend on the plant.
A town without its main employer
The mill employed 360 people, and most are now out of work, receiving partial pay through government tariff relief. Property values have dropped sharply since the shutdown, and for-sale signs stand outside many homes. Residents fear that service workers, from grocery clerks to doctors at the local hospital, may leave too. A local contractor told the BBC he has already laid off 13 people.
In August the US imposed 50% duties on roughly C$28bn of Canadian goods, including wood and paper products. Canada responded with its own dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs. The mill makes paperboard used in frozen-food packaging and scratch-off lottery tickets, and about 75% of its output goes to the US.
Bid to buy the mill back
The town last faced a threat of this scale in 1973, when the then American owner threatened closure. Workers and managers bought the mill themselves and created Tembec. Union leader Stéphane Lefebvre now wants to repeat that by buying the plant back from RYAM, which acquired it in 2017. He says this cannot succeed without help from Prime Minister Mark Carney's government and the Quebec government, through tariff relief or financial support. RYAM declined to comment on a possible sale.
Mayor Alain Gauthier urges Ottawa to impose retaliatory duties on US board products entering Canada. The federal government says it has made $400m available for the forestry sector and is working with all parties on a solution. Some tariffs on Canadian goods were lifted last week, but the changes do not cover products made at the Témiscaming mill.
