A Canadian company bought our local paper mill, which was one of the largest employers in the area for decades, then idled the mill. The city and county are trying to lure Abitibi back with offers of tax abatements. To be honest, I'm torn as to how I feel about the possibility of the mill reopening (for a number of reasons) but I don't believe Abitibi intended on keeping the mill open when they bought it.
Probably not. Canada PREFERS to import our trees to THEIR mills. Because they don't have the environmental regulations, they can process logs more cheaply up there AND ruin our domestic building industry, thus making the US dependent on CANADA for such trade, rather than the other way around.
They also prefer to use THEIR truck drivers to transport our logs....and sorry, but they DO NOT drive up to US standards of CDL licensing. Hubby is constantly having to yell at them in French (which startles them because they're also fond of insulting Americans in French and assuming you can't understand what they're saying) and backing the trucks in himself before they get rolled, jacknifed, bogged or slide down a hillside. The US should demand Canadian truckers qualify for US CDL standards.
Quebec and Ontario (and maybe other provinces) won't let Americans work in Canada without paying for work permits OR let you own a business there anymore unless you hire NOTHING but Canadian citizens.
A friend of the family, who owns rental cabins on a lake in Ontario, was physically escorted back across the Canadian border because he dared to allow family members to VOLUNTEER to maintain the cabins if they wanted (we also got a steep discount on the rates, which he swallowed). His crime? No Canadians worked there. His parents spent the summer there, maintained the cabins, ran the reservation desk etc....all for free. They said he had broken the law because he wasn't paying Canadians their going rate to do the same job his parents did for free.
So IMO, it all boils down to Canada's government cooking their domestic employment rate books to appease citizens and pay for their failed socialist programs.
It would be far better if your town tried to lure in an American company which would keep the mill open that the greedy Canadian companies which hate us. Abitibi would have to agree to sell the mill of course. Which they might not do if they feel there's financial gain in keeping the mill...and keeping it closed. They've got our timber and building industry right where they want it : in a bind. Clinton's environazi regulations were a big help to them, BTW.
If THAT isn't a example of a nasty and already escalated trade war, nothing is.