Wade Merritt, president of the Maine International Trade Center, says Maine businesses were so surprised Monday by tariffs announced by China that they are still figuring out the repercussions.

“The consensus seemed to have been that we were expecting a deal to resolve the (trade) issues that had arisen last year. The deal was imminent until it wasn’t,” Merritt said Tuesday. “To be totally honest, we’re still trying to get our heads wrapped around what it means.”

Maine exported $204 million in goods to China last year, according to the U.S. Census, making the country the state’s second-largest trade partner. China, however, is well behind Canada, to which Maine exported $1.4 billion in goods in 2018.

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