September 18, 2019 — The trade war with China is putting the squeeze on the state’s lobster industry, and the damage is seeping into other sectors of the seafood economy, lawmakers were told Tuesday.
China has imposed 35% tariffs on U.S. lobsters — and many other food products — over the past year amid rising trade hostilities with the United States.
As a result, U.S. lobster exports to China have fallen off a cliff, dropping by 80% since its retaliatory tariffs went into effect.
The pain is being felt in Massachusetts, the nation’s second-largest market, where lobster sales to China plummeted 62% in the past year, according to state export officials.
“Canada is experiencing a boom in lobster sales as Chinese buyers find alternative markets,” Mark Sullivan, executive director of the state Office of International Trade and Investment, told members of Legislature’s Committee on Export Development on Tuesday. “Cargo planes are coming into Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick to handle this bump in growth.”