Published by Maine Public on April 3, 2025.
So far, Maine’s lobster industry has largely been spared from the biggest direct hits from President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada.
Canada was not part of the latest round of tariffs placed on dozens of countries that Trump announced Wednesday.
And though Canada has placed tariffs on an initial round of U.S. goods worth some $30 billion, lobster is not on that list.
Still, some members of the industry and economic experts worry that broader global economy uncertainty may drive down demand for the product in Maine.
“Lobster is an indulgence; it’s a luxury item,” Luke Holden of Luke’s Lobster said Thursday during an Island Institute webinar on tariffs and Maine’s heritage industry. “And people are only willing to pay for something like that when they’ve got confidence in the economy.”
Canada is Maine’s biggest trading partner, and received more than 75% of the state’s fish exports last year, according to Amanda Rector, Maine’s state economist.
China has placed a 10% tariff on U.S. lobster exports.
And trade experts warn that more dire impacts may still be on the horizon. Trump placed a variety of new tariffs on European Union countries, and Eric Miller, a consultant with the Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, said those countries could retaliate and tax American lobster or seafood exports.
