Fish and crustaceans are Maine’s top export to Canada, totalling $286 million a year. (Photo: Chris Knight/Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries)
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Leaders from Maine’s number one export market responded to new tariffs from the Trump administration with a new tax of its own, including on some of the state’s most vital industries.
Effective Tuesday, Canada will be imposing a 25% tariff on $30 billion worth of goods imported from the United States. The “countermeasure” will be in effect until the U.S. eliminates its tariff on Canada, according to a news release from the Department of Finance Canada.
This comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Saturday imposing tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico that are also set to go into effect Tuesday. It includes a 25% tariff on imports from Canada, except for oil, natural gas and electricity which will be taxed at 10%.
Trump agreed to hold off on the tariffs on Mexico after talking with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday morning. The same has not been said about the tariffs on Canada, though Trump posted on social media that he also talked with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and is scheduled to discuss with him further on Monday afternoon.
Every year, Maine exports $1.4 billion in goods to its neighbors to the north. Many of the top exports are included on the list of goods subject to the new tax including crustaceans, wood pulp and other wood products. Natural gas, another top export, is not included on the list of affected goods.
Maine exports $172 million worth of paper and paperboard to Canada each year, according to a fact sheet from the Canadian government. With a plethora of paper and paperboard products included on the list of goods subject to the new tax, Canada’s 25% tariff would cost Maine’s third highest export industry an estimated $43 million.
Fish and crustaceans are Maine’s top export to Canada, totalling $286 million a year. The list of tariffed goods provided by the Canadian government includes crustaceans — including lobsters — mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates, prepared or preserved, meaning the new tariff on Maine’s top exported goods could cost up to $71.5 million.
While Trump has said the tariffs are designed to protect Americans by pressuring the targeted countries to curb the manufacture and export of illegal fentanyl and stop illegal immigration, economists and some Maine officials worry it will only drive up prices, especially given how interwoven Maine’s economy is with Canada.
“President Trump’s tariffs will have devastating consequences for Mainers and our economy, driving up costs for working families and destabilizing key industries that our state relies on,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat, after the order Saturday.
Gov. Janet Mills also said she is concerned about how the tariffs will impact the state’s economy that is “deeply intertwined with Canada’s.”
Maine imports more than $5 billion worth of goods each year from Canada.
Prior to the implementation of Trump’s tariff, the Maine Office of Public Advocate raised concern about how it would affect energy customers, especially 58,000 ratepayers in Aroostook and Washington counties who live along the border and have little choice but to rely on Canadian energy to keep their lights on.
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