While Trump’s chaos convention continues tonight, Maine’s economy is in crisis thanks to his reckless trade war which has “upended” vital Maine industries and his botched pandemic response that has undermined small businesses. Despite promising that his programs for small businesses would be “flawless” and that he would “beat China” on trade, many Maine small businesses have been forced to close, and exports from some of Maine’s key industries have “cratered” and “nearly vanished” as a result.
“Between his mishandling of the pandemic and his reckless trade war with China, Donald Trump has sent our state and our country’s economy into crisis,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Trump’s economy has not only been disastrous for Maine small business and workers, he’s put the needs of big corporations and his wealthy donors ahead of everyday Mainers’ needs. Joe Biden has a plan to build America back better from Trump’s economy, and that’s why we must elect him in November.”
BACKGROUND ON TRUMP’S BROKEN PROMISES ON THE ECONOMY
PROMISE: Trump said he would grow the economy by 4% each year, and deliver 25 million new jobs.
REALITY: Trump’s bungled handling of COVID-19 has led the US and Maine into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
- Maine’s economy has contracted by 6.3% since the start of COVID-19.
- During the pandemic, 22 million jobs were lost, including 90,000 here in Maine. This has left more than 16 million Americans unemployed. Furthermore, since Trump took over, the US economy has lost 6 million jobs.
PROMISE: Trump said his relief programs for small businesses in the wake of COVID-19 would be “flawless.”
REALITY: The Payment Protection Program (PPP), with its botched rollout and skewed benefits, failed to stop widespread small business closures while helping large corporations and Trump donors.
- When Trump rolled out the PPP, the badly needed assistance he promised to small businesses was delayed because his administration failed to give adequate guidance to lenders and small businesses, and the website for accessing loans was plagued by glitches and crashes.
- Even once aid was finally distributed to businesses, huge portions of it ended up in the hands of large corporations or major donors to Trump. More than $1 billion in funds for the program that was directed towards “small businesses” went to publicly traded companies, while more than $270 million from the program went to companies owned or operated by Trump donors and associates.
- Amid the program’s delays and windfalls for large corporations, more than 100,000 small businesses, including many in Maine, have closed for good, and small business optimism around the country has plummeted.
PROMISE: Trump would “beat China” on trade. [Campaign Launch, 2015]
REALITY: Trump has enacted harmful trade policies which have been disastrous for key Maine industries.
- Maine’s lobster industry has been “upended” by Trump’s tariffs on China. Despite a record lobster catch in President Obama’s final year in office, once Trump engaged in a trade war with China, Maine lobster exports to China "cratered". Since China was the biggest overseas buyer of Maine lobster, losing it as a market has thrown Maine’s lobstermen and women into a world of uncertainty.
- Maine’s wild blueberry market has “nearly vanished.” In the years before Trump’s trade war, Maine farmers saw profits and sales skyrocket. But after China imposed an 80% retaliatory tariff on wild blueberries, exports “plummeted.”
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