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Mass. Delegation Urges Feds To Find New Markets For Lobsters

Live lobsters are packed in coolers for shipment to China at The Lobster Company in Arundel, Maine. The company says it has resorted to layoffs due to shrinking business. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
Live lobsters are packed in coolers for shipment to China at The Lobster Company in Arundel, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

As the United States trade war with China continues to take its toll on Massachusetts lobstermen, members of the state's Congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are urging the Trump administration to find new markets for American lobster exports.

Sens. Warren and Ed Markey and Congressmen Joseph Kennedy III, William Keating, Stephen Lynch and Seth Moulton wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday imploring him assist the local lobster industry.

The lawmakers said that China's 25% tariffs on imported American lobsters has had a "material impact" on the state's lobster industry, already forcing at least two businesses to close and leaving 250 people out of work.

"While Massachusetts state legislators are exploring solutions for economic relief at the state level, it is imperative that there be federal resolve to assist the Massachusetts lobstermen whose livelihoods heavily relied on exports to China," the lawmakers wrote.

The state Legislature's Joint Committee on Export Development plans a hearing at the State House on Tuesday afternoon to explore the local impact on China's lobster tariffs. United States lobster exports to China are down more than 80% since June 2018, the letter stated.

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