Tariff-free US lobster exports to EU face July 31 deadline amid trade talks

American lobsters could get shipped to the European Union (EU) tariff-free amid the U.S. and the EU’s ongoing discussions on trade. 

The U.S. and EU have been negotiating a deal to address tariffs and, according to the Financial Times, the European Commission is amenable to including such a measure in it. 

The trade talks between the U.S. and EU commenced after the Trump administration implemented tariffs on the EU as well as other nations.

EU AGREES TO FAST-TRACK US TRADE TALKS AFTER WEEKEND TRUMP CALL

European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told the Financial Times that the “continuation of the lobster agreement will depend on the outcome of ongoing negotiations, to which the EU remains fully committed.” 

Live Maine Lobsters are sorted on a fishing boat. (iStock)

The EU got rid of its tariffs on live and frozen lobsters coming from the U.S. in 2020 as part of a larger trade agreement that then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said at the time would “increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and EU exports” through reductions in various tariffs. 

Before that, American lobsters being shipped to the EU faced an 8% tariff, FOX Business correspondent Jeff Flock reported.

Without an extension, the rule enabling U.S. lobster to be shipped into the EU without being hit with a levy will end July 31. 

Flock asked a Maine lobsterman how the local lobster industry could be affected if the EU’s prior tariff on American lobsters came back into force.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

“I don’t know a lot about tariffs myself, but what I do know is what affects our bottom line,” Maine lobsterman Chris Welch told Flock. “And as long as the markets remain open, that’s good for us and everybody in the Maine lobster industry, so if we can keep things working in the right direction, that’s what I’m hoping for.” 

Boats gather in Casco Bay for lobster boat races on Aug. 20, 2023, in Portland, Maine. (Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

American lobsters made up about 25% of the EU’s market last year, the Financial Times reported. 

Maine produces the most lobster of any U.S. state, according to the Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative. 

While reporting from a lobster boat in Maine, Flock said President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce regulations on the U.S. fishing industry and noted that Maine lobstermen have “put some regulations on yourself, actually.”

WHICH COUNTRIES IMPOSE HIGHEST TARIFFS ON US?

“All regulations aren’t bad,” Welch told him. “Years ago, the Maine lobster industry put in a V-notch rule, so if there’s anything wrong with this particular flipper here, it was man-made that’s put in by other lobstermen; and the idea of that is so that the next person that catches this lobster knows it was an egg-bearing female and they’ll return her to the water so that we can catch her again in the future, and she can reproduce.”