Trump urged to help US fishermen caught in trade war

DEMOCRATS in the US Congress are urging  President Donald Trump to pay compensation to  fishermen affected by the trade war with China.
The tariff dispute is already badly  affecting fishermen in Alaska where China is one of their biggest overseas markets, but there are also reports that the Maine lobster industry is starting to suffer. Maine lobster fishermen are  worried that they will permanently lose trade to neighbours Canada which  also sells into China. It is now more than a week since Beijing   imposed a 25 per cent retaliatory tariff on many types of  US seafood.
Trump has already said he plans to provide $12-billion in help to US farmers, but now a group of US Democrats are urging him to increase the aid budget to include fishermen.
The maintain that US Federal law allows the government to offer help to fishermen who lose out due to  natural disasters or main-made actions. Accordingly, Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts has proposed a Bill which expands the disaster definition to  include the tariffs imposed by China on US seafood imports. He said farmers were not the only group losing out in the current trade war.
He and other Democrats have written to Trump saying: “We respectfully request you give the same consideration to the hardworking fishermen and women of America who are being hurt by your policies and direct the U.S. Department of Commerce to provide emergency assistance to working families of the water.”
And it is not just Democrats who are calling for action. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska has  issued a statement calling the aid to farmers an admission that tariffs were hurting, not helping the country and said American fishermen were also being caught up in the dispute.