Vekasi speaks with Press Herald about Maine escaping Chinese tariffs
Kristin Vekasi, an assistant professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Maine, spoke with the Portland Press Herald for an article about how Maine’s biggest exports, including lobster, wood pulp and airplane parts, are not targeted by the first round of Chinese tariffs in the brewing trade war with America. A luxury item like lobster may be immune, or at least insulated, from the impact of tariffs because the middle class Chinese who can afford to buy it may not care about that higher price, said Vekasi, whose research focuses on international political economy in Northeast Asia. They may even prefer a higher-priced lobster because it enhances its value as a status symbol, she said. Chinese seafood buyers also could obtain Maine lobster through secondary trade routes, which have supplemented direct lobster exports to China for years, according to the article. But one of the most likely candidates for Maine to use to indirectly supply China’s growing middle-class appetite for lobster is South Korea, but that country currently is enduring a China boycott because of Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. missile shield, Vekasi said.