Reported by Al Jazeera
Senator Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson clash over tariffs and their impact on Maine’s economy.
For half a century, day after day, he has taken his boat and headed into the cold waters of the North Atlantic off the coast of the US state of Maine , hauling the crustaceans from the ocean and bringing them ashore. From there, they are loaded onto trucks, sent to processing facilities and shipped to restaurants around the world.
Horner has voted for United States President Donald Trump three times and stands by his vote. He supports the president’s rollback of environmental regulations affecting commercial fishing operations like his own.
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While he supports Trump on one policy, however, he’s disappointed in another – the president’s antagonistic approach to Canada, which borders Maine and is deeply entwined with the state’s lobster industry.
“I never heard anything about all this Canadian animosity in the campaign. I don’t know where that came from,” Horner told Al Jazeera. “As far as taking on Canada in this huge hostile trade war, I’m totally against it.”
Horner has watched the price of bait climb along with the cost of the diesel needed to power his boat.
Far beyond Maine’s rocky coastline, tensions involving the US, Iran, Russia and Ukraine have helped drive up global diesel prices, which hit record highs in September. Before the US and Israel began their war on Iran, diesel averaged $3.08 per gallon (3.8 litres) and has now more than doubled to $6.29.
Horner’s business is just one small fish in a very big pond. Maine’s lobster fisheries brought in $461m in 2025, underpinning a seafood economy that is dependent on the crustacean.
But that industry was put on edge when Trump announced sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, prompting retaliation from Ottawa.
In August, Trump imposed tariffs on $20bn worth of Canadian goods while alleging unfair treatment of US products. Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs , but lifted the levies on seafood later that month.
Maine’s peak lobster season runs from late summer into early autumn, when catches surge and local processors can struggle…