US Senator Angus King, I-Maine, during an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, claimed that the present trade war going on with China is affecting the lobster industry of his home state already.
In the interview, King told that the American consumers, and not the Chinese, are paying a lot of tax on consumer goods.
By using Maine’s lobster industry as an example, King said that the export of lobsters from Maine to China, one of the major markets Maine has worked for years with, is now dead virtually due to the retaliatory tariffs imposed by China.
The US as well as China made an announcement that they are increasing the tariffs on several of each other’s imports, thus intensifying a trade war. China raised tariffs on USD 60bn worth of US goods on Monday. This move came in as a result of US President Donald Trump increasing the tariffs on USD 200bn worth of Chinese imports to 25% from 10% on Friday.
Notably, last summer, the Maine International Trade Center had said that there was a downfall in the exports from Maine to China by around 50%, affecting the Maine lobster industry majorly. Wade Merritt, President, Maine International Trade Center had said that lobster industry was down by 80%.