A new analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that roughly $130 million of Maine exports are threatened by new tariffs already imposed or threatened by China, the European Union, Mexico and Canada on American-made products in retaliation for new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
To put that in context, the Maine International Trade Center reported that last year, 2,262 Maine companies exported $2.7 billion in goods and services to 176 countries. Trade supports 180,500 (nearly 1 in 4) Maine jobs, according to MITC, and Maine jobs related to trade have increased by 25.9% since 2009, while overall job growth was just 0.3% in the same time frame.
The U.S. Chamber — which is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations — compiled its analysis using data on state exports from the U.S. Department of Commerce and data on U.S. exports subject to foreign tariffs from the official government sources of China, the EU, Mexico, and Canada.
“The analysis shows how much of each state’s exports are threatened by retaliatory tariffs, highlights each state’s hardest-hit products, and shows the total number of jobs supported by global trade in each state, illustrating exactly what American families and consumers stand to lose in a potential trade war,” the chamber stated in a news release accompanying its analysis.