This latest Trump move is obviously to gain favor with Maine’s voters, seeing as both Trump and Republican Senator Susan Collins are trailing in the polls. Not only that, but this investigation started on August 24 by the United States International Trade Commission may end up backfiring.
According to CBC Canada, the commission “will investigate the possible negative effects of the Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA) on American lobster exports.” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is the one who requested the investigation that will also include a closer look at how tariffs on Canadian lobsters are applied in the United Kingdom, China and other countries.
“We’re not sure what it means,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada. “We’re studying it. The government of Canada is studying it. Now we’re talking to our colleagues in the U.S. and we’re trying to figure out how best to manage it from the Canadian side.”
Yes, the Canadian government is aware of this latest economic threat. “We are aware of the USITC announcement and are closely monitoring new developments,” said Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Patricia Skinner in an email statement.
EU ends tariffs on imports of U.S. lobster
Just three days before the trade commission announced its investigation, the European Union announced it would end tariffs on imports of U.S. lobster, retroactive to August 1, 2020.
“The elimination of the EU tariff on U.S. lobster products is a significant achievement for our industry,” Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association Executive Director Annie Tselikis said in a news release, reported Mainebiz.com.
”The EU was historically an essential market for Maine lobster, but we have been facing challenges in that market since 2017 due to preferential treatment of Canadian lobsters. This move levels the playing field for Maine lobster companies and will benefit the entire industry.”
Canada does not have a tariff imposed on their lobster exports to the EU, unlike the United States. For the past three years, exporters of U.S. lobsters faced tariffs of 8 percent for live lobster and up to 30 percent for frozen lobster products in the EU. Of course, no one has mentioned that the tariffs were in retaliation for tariffs on European goods instigated by Trump.
The EU is eliminating the tariffs on a Most Favored Nation basis, retroactive to August 1. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to reduce by 50 percent its tariff rates on certain products exported by the EU worth an average annual trade value of $160 million, also retroactive to August 1.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Maine hailed the agreement, which comes after years of tariffs in both the EU and China. “The removal of these tariffs will give Maine’s lobstermen, dealers, and processors a level playing field with their Canadian competitors, and restore a key market that brings millions of dollars of economic activity into our state,” they said in a joint statement.
What about the elephant in the room?
In March 2020, statistics released by Maine’s Department of Marine Resources showed that, by weight, Maine’s lobster harvest dropped by 17 percent from the previous year. That continued a recent downward trend that’s emerged since the record hauls of the mid-2010s.
Overall, Maine’s fishing fleet and aquaculture farms brought in almost $674 million worth of salt-water produce last year, reported Maine Public.
However, DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher says while the 2019 results were positive, Maine’s marine economies face daunting challenges, including the effects of climate change,
Ahh, there’s the elephant. And I am glad that someone has finally mentioned climate change. Even though Trump, a non-believer in the science behind our climate crisis, won’t acknowledge what is going on, we really can’t blame everything on European Union tariffs.
University of Maine scientist Rick Wahle has documented trends in baby lobster density for years, and when he released new data in June 2019, it only reinforced a troubling trend in the movement of lobster populations further north into Atlantic Canada, such as some areas in Nova Scotia.
The Gulf of Maine, from Bar Harbor to Cape Cod reported below average numbers of baby lobsters. Wahle explained that baby lobsters settle on the ocean bottom to take shelter as they grow.
Wahle tracks 23 areas from Rhode Island to Prince Edward Island, Canada to get his data every year. The high totals were in Canadian locations such as St. Mary’s Bay, Nova Scotia, while the low numbers were in Maine fishing areas, like the Midcoast region and Casco Bay.
Back in 2017, scientists warned that baby lobsters would not be able to withstand the warming ocean waters around Maine. Again a decline in baby lobsters was reported. The scientists quantify newly settled young-of-year (YoY) and older juvenile lobsters at the end of the larval settlement season between August and October annually.
Even the lobsters are migrating northward to cooler waters. The annual American Lobster Settlement Index says the decline in the settlement of young lobsters in the Gulf of Maine has “raised concerns over the future of the region’s fishery.”
At the time, Wahle, a co-author of the 2017 study said, “It’s critical to know how climate change will affect the future of our most important fishery. We only need to look to the die-offs south of Cape Cod to see how climate change is having an impact.”
