Letter to the Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer, United States Trade Representatives - Protect Maine Lobsters

Letter

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer,

I write you today with urgency as the White House continues tariff-free trade negotiations with the European Union, and I ask that U.S. lobster be included in any final agreement.

In early June, several high-level trade officials from your office visited Maine at the request of the Maine Congressional Delegation to meet with more than a dozen members of our lobster industry and to tour a lobster processing facility. During the visit, the trade officials were able to see and hear first-hand the important role that the European market plays in the Maine lobster industry's livelihood and the disadvantage the industry faces as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada goes into force.

Under CETA, the Canadian lobster industry can ship unlimited volumes of live lobster to the European Union duty-free while our U.S. lobster exporters face eight percent tariffs for live lobster shipments to the same market. To add insult to injury, the recent announcement from China to impose forty percent tariffs on U.S. lobster came the same month that China dropped tariffs on Canadian lobster down to seven percent.

These tariffs put the U.S. lobster industry--which directly and indirectly employs more than 10,000 hardworking Mainers and contributes nearly $1 billion to Maine's economy each year--at serious and immediate financial risk and long term, permanent economic harm.

Maine is made up of some of the hardest working people in America--from our wood products and logging industry, to our tourism sector, and from our potato and blueberry farmers, to our shoe makers and our paper mill workers. Mainers work hard for what we've got and we are incredibly proud of that, but when it comes to trade, the playing field must be fair.

Right now, the Canadians are operating at a huge advantage over our Maine lobster industry when it comes to access to the European market. To rectify this and ensure longevity for our Maine lobstermen, processors, distributors, and numerous other indirect workers, I urge you to include lobster into any trade agreement you reach with the European Union.

Thank you for your consideration of this important and timely request.

Sincerely,

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