The United States reached a grim milestone this week as more than 200,000 of our fellow Americans have died from the coronavirus, but Donald Trump still doesn’t have a plan to deal with the pandemic or its economic fallout. And while small businesses suffer under the weight of Trump’s failed pandemic response, other vital industries are sinking under the weight of Trump’s failed trade war with China.
“Donald Trump’s economy has been a disaster for Maine’s businesses,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “From his botched response to COVID-19 to his failed trade war with China, Trump’s blunders have made it much harder for Maine businesses and industries to thrive. To preserve our businesses, we must elect Joe Biden in November.”
BACKGROUND ON HOW DONALD TRUMP’S ECONOMY HAS HURT MAINE BUSINESSES AND VITAL INDUSTRIES
Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and recession that resulted has been disastrous for Maine small businesses.
- Maine’s tourism industry, powered by small businesses, was hit hard. Tourism businesses around the state normally employ 70,000 Mainers, which fell to 29,000 in the beginning of the pandemic. Even as peak tourist season came and went this summer, more than a third of those jobs are still missing.
- Nationally, more than 100,000 businesses shuttered for good in between March and May, and about 1 in 20 small businesses expect to permanently shut down in the next six months.
While our economy is in a recession, Trump is still bailing out big corporations at the expense of small businesses.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars that were meant to provide relief to small businesses instead went to publicly traded companies and entities owned by Trump associates or donors.
Trump’s failed trade war with China has laid wreckage to many of Maine’s key industries.
- Trump’s trade war caused Maine lobster exports to China to drop by 50 percent, and a trade deal signed earlier this year has not resulted in more Chinese lobster purchases. Additionally, Trump’s efforts to paper over the damage inflicted on the industry with federal aid left out lobster dealers and wholesalers who have been hit hardest by his trade war.
- As a result of retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American goods, Maine blueberry exports decreased by 97%. The blueberry industry was then left out of Trump’s subsidies for farmers who were hurt by his trade war.
- Trump’s trade war has jeopardized Maine manufacturers’ comparative advantage with foreign competitors, and many have been hurt by the sudden increases in raw material prices caused by Trump’s trade war.
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