March 26, 2020 — The U.S. Senate late on Wednesday, 25 March, unanimously passed a USD 2 trillion (EUR 1.81 trillion) relief package for American businesses and individuals whose work has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill now heads to the House, where passage is expected by the end of the week. President Trump has also indicated he would sign the bill into law.
March 25, 2020 — The United States Congress is nearing finalization of a third COVID-19 stimulus bill totaling up to USD 2 trillion (EUR 1.85 trillion) in across-the-board relief.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the package on the afternoon of Wednesday, 25 March, and the House of Representatives – currently in recess – is expected to reconvene for its own vote “as soon as possible,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told CNN. President Donald Trump has also expressed his support for the bill on Twitter.
March 23, 2020 — Gov. Janet Mills is asking President Trump for help to support Maine’s fishing industry.
In a letter to the president Friday, Mills pointed to a collapse of the markets for seafood both locally and globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked the administration to consider direct financial assistance, subsidies, operating loans or loan deferment, or tweaking existing programs to make them more accessible to fishing and seafood businesses.
“In the short-term, harvesters have only limited opportunities within their communities to sell small quantities of product in hopes to earn just enough money to buy weekly necessities,” wrote Mills, calling the men and women who fish for lobster, herring, groundfish and shellfish “the very backbone of our rural coastal economy.”
In the long term, Mills said, “it is clear that the collapse of the international and larger domestic markets will devastate Maine’s commercial fisheries.”
March 20, 2020 — U.S. President Donald Trump will not suspend hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs his administration has imposed on Chinese goods, despite calls from U.S. business associations to do so to alleviate economic hardship brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
On Wednesday, 18 March, more than 160 business belonging to the group Americans for Free Trade wrote a letter to Trump asking for the suspension of tariffs on Chinese-made goods, claiming that doing so would give the U.S. economy a USD 75 billion (EUR 70.3 billion) boost, equivalent to 0.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
March 20, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congresswomen Aumua Amata (R-American Samoa):
Thursday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata is urging President Trump to reopen fishing access as a matter of national food security during the worldwide economic and health crisis.
“At this time of global re-evaluation of world health and economics, I simply write to say that food security equals national security. Please use your Executive Order to immediately reopen the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) to commercial fishing,” Aumua Amata states in her urgent letter to the President.
“American Samoa is home to the largest tuna cannery in the Country and the cannery needs restored access to the Monument to keep up with demand which has spiked over 30 percent in the past week alone for this key healthy, shelf-stable and staple product for American consumers,” she continues.
“Now is the time to reopen American waters to ensure an American supply chain with American boats fishing American waters and having American manufacturing plants processing essential staple foods for the American people,” says Congresswoman Amata.
She supports her request with prior communications from herself and Governor Lolo Moliga, including one cosigned by House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rob Bishop of Utah. The Congresswoman closes with appreciation to the President for ongoing bold action in the effort to protect our country and his continued optimism.
March 16, 2020 — The controls that have been imposed in various markets to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic have made it difficult for some of Scotland’s salmon exporters to get products to customers, and the trade situation is likely to deteriorate before improvements are seen, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) has said.
U.S. President Donald Trump extended a European travel ban to include the United Kingdom and Ireland on Saturday, 14 March. Cargo remains exempt from the ban, but the number of trans-Atlantic flights has dropped as a result, significantly reducing bellyhold cargo capacity from the market, according to Air Cargo News.
March 16, 2020 — The following was released by The White House:
Today, the White House released: The President’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America – 15 Days to Slow the Spread. Guidelines can be found below.
March 13, 2020 — The following Small Business Administration (SBA) loan opportunities and new Labor Department guidance announced yesterday by the Trump Administration may be of interest to commercial fishing companies.
The following was released by the SBA:
Small Business Administration Will Provide Disaster Assistance Loans (link)
SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans offer up to $2 million in assistance for a small business. These loans can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing. Further resources can be found in the attached document as well as on SBA’s website: www.SBA.gov/coronavirus and www.SBA.gov/disaster. The announcement is available here: https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-provide-disaster-assistance-loans-small-businesses-impacted-coronavirus-covid-19
Read more about the SBA’s response to COVID-19 here
The following was released by the Labor Department:
Department of Labor Announces New Guidance on Unemployment Insurance Flexibilities (link)
Today DOL announced new guidance outlining flexibilities that states have in administering their unemployment insurance (UI) programs to assist Americans affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. States will be able to pay benefits where: (1) An employer temporarily ceases operations due to COVID-19, preventing employees from coming to work; (2) An individual is quarantined with the expectation of returning to work after the quarantine is over; and (3) An individual leaves employment due to a risk of exposure or infection or to care for a family member. In addition, federal law does not require an employee to quit in order to receive benefits due to the impact of COVID-19.The full announcement is available here: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta/eta20200312-0
March 12, 2020 — Just hours after the World Health Organization declared that the outbreak of COVID-19/coronavirus is officially a global pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump declared in a televised speech that all travel from Europe to the U.S. would be suspended for 30 days, starting at midnight on 13 March.
While Trump initially stated in his speech that the travel prohibitions would also apply to trade and cargo, the White House later clarified that the ban only applies to foreign nationals trying to travel to the U.S., not goods, cargo, or U.S. citizens trying to return. The ban currently does not apply to the United Kingdom.
February 21, 2020 — California is suing the administration of President Donald Trump for what it calls the administration’s failure to protect endangered species in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the California Natural Resources Agency, and the California Environmental Protection Agency filed the lawsuit on Thursday against the Trump administration in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The attorney general said the Trump administration was adopting “scientifically challenged biological opinions that push species to extinction” and harm natural resources and waterways.
The lawsuit stressed the Trump administration’s alleged failure to protect endangered fish species from federal water export operations.
In October, the Trump administration announced a plan to divert water to California farmers, fulfilling a campaign promise made by the president.