Via The Hill: Collins asks White House to consider ‘negative impact’ of Canada trade war.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) pushed the Trump administration to “consider the negative impact” that engaging in a tariff war with Canada may have on American constituents, straying away from some of her GOP peers.

Let’s just say that “pushed” feels like too aggressive a verb for any interaction between Collins and, well, anybody.

I mean, she posted it on social media, so that’ll do the trick.

Collins, a frequent critic of Trump administration policy, said in a Saturday statement posted to social platform X that she wants “both sides to return to the negotiating table.” The Maine lawmaker said she expects the move will increase costs for her state’s residents and urged the neighboring countries to reach a “fair agreement.”

“Ever since the tariffs were first announced, I have heard from many businesses, farmers, and lobstermen concerned about the cost of navigating the tariffs, the lack of domestic supply chains, and the likely imposition of retaliatory tariffs by Canada,” she wrote. 

The tit-for-tat attacks represent a trade war that Collins believes will “lead to higher costs, risk, and uncertainty for Maine businesses.”

Gee, you don’t say.

And all I want from The Hill is to be empirical and append “but ultimately staunch ally” to “frequent critic.”

In fairness, the piece does go on to note:

While Collins has publicly decried some of President Trump’s policies, a vast majority of her votes — like many of her fellow Congress Republicans — align with his position on given issues. Though not all her GOP colleagues condemned the latest trade war.

Still, the whole charade that she is some kind of independent or bipartisan force is just utter nonsense, and her bleating concerns have well beyond reached the level of nails on a chalkboard.