U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) led a bipartisan, bicameral contingent of her Maine colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately act on a soon-to-expire presidential memorandum that would provide pandemic-relief funds to the lobster industry, which is an economic driver in their home state.
“We urge you to keep the president’s promise and immediately assist the thousands of Mainers whose livelihoods depend on this critical industry,” wrote Sen. Collins and her colleagues U.S. Sen. Angus King, Jr. (I-ME) and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Jared Golden (D-ME) in an Aug. 19 letter sent to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.
President Donald Trump’s June 24 memo, titled Memorandum on Protecting the United States Lobster Industry, directed the USDA secretary to “consider taking appropriate action, to the extent permitted by applicable law, to provide assistance to fishermen and producers in the United States lobster industry that continue to be harmed by China’s retaliatory tariffs” within 60 days, a deadline that ends on Aug. 24, according to the lawmakers’ letter.
“We were encouraged by this directive, given that we urged President Trump to make lobstermen eligible for this aid more than a year ago,” Sen. Collins and her colleagues wrote. “This 60-day period is now drawing to a close, but the USDA has yet to take any further action.”
Subsequently, Maine’s lobster industry continues to be “significantly impacted by China’s retaliatory tariffs,” the members wrote, noting that the country’s 2018 tariffs caused lobster exports there to decrease nearly 50 percent the next year.
And unlike other types of food producers who were affected by retaliatory tariffs and received prompt federal relief, Maine’s lobstermen were not eligible for the $28 billion in trade mitigation aid that USDA authorized in 2018 and 2019, they wrote.
“With no end to these tariffs in sight and the new burden of the COVID-19 pandemic also weighing heavily on the industry, it is imperative that Maine’s lobster producers receive immediate support” from USDA, wrote Sen. Collins and the Maine lawmakers.