On Wednesday President Donald Trump directed the US Department of Agriculture to provide lobster harvesters with financial assistance to make up for lost income from Chinese tariffs.
Trump signed a memorandum Wednesday calling on the government to provide the lobster industry with subsidies similar to those given to soybean and other agricultural growers.
China’s retaliatory tariffs on the American lobster industry were particularly aggressive, Trump wrote in the memo, highlighting their steady rise.
"On July 6, 2018, China imposed retaliatory 25 percent tariffs on American lobster. On September 1, 2019, China raised those retaliatory tariffs to 35 percent. On February 14, 2020, China reduced its punitive lobster tariffs to 30 percent," he wrote.
"When those retaliatory tariffs are added to China’s prevailing Most Favored Nation tariffs of 5 percent and 7 percent, depending on the species of lobster, American lobsters currently face tariffs of either 35 percent or 37 percent."
The tariffs were the result of a heated trade war between the two countries sparked by Trump himself.
Trump's move on Wednesday follows a meeting with US lobster industry representatives in early in June during which he instructed White House Advisor Peter Navarro, who he dubbed the "lobster king" to take action on tariffs imposed by China and the EU on imports of US lobster.
