Trump’s Tariffs Shift Costs Onto Workers and Farmers

The domestic wire-mesh supplier Mark Brooks uses raised prices by 20% the same week President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on imported steel. Brooks, who runs Brooks Trap Mill with his siblings, said rising diesel prices and freight surcharges have squeezed the business. “We've eaten as much cost as we can to try to keep our prices down, but we just can't eat any more than we have already,” he said.

Workers, small businesses and farmers are feeling the tariffs as candidates campaign for the Nov. 3 congressional elections. In Maine, Brooks' roughly $2 million in annual shipments of lobster traps to Canada dried up virtually overnight after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney imposed 50% tariffs on U.S. lobster traps in September, retaliating for Trump’s duties on Canadian goods. Brooks Trap Mill runs seven locations across Maine.

Costs Handed Down the Chain

Canada takes more than 40% of Maine’s exports, and no state depends more on home heating oil. In a Suffolk University poll this month, more than 90% of likely Maine voters rated the state’s economy “fair” or “poor.” A majority said Maine was on the wrong track, and 57% gave Trump an unfavorable rating. Polls compiled by FiftyPlusOne showed Democrat Troy Jackson leading Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins by an average of 2 percentage points.

Lobstermen face higher costs, though Ottawa left lobster off its retaliation list. Brooks’ traps now sell for $180, up from $130 two years ago. AAA reported that diesel fuel for boats rose 67% statewide over the past year; rope imported largely from India and bait sourced mostly from Europe also cost more amid tariffs and higher fuel prices. Steve Train, a lobsterman who hauls 400 traps a day out of Casco Bay, said, “Everything we do in this business costs more money right now. These tariff wars are not helping us.”

Train blamed Trump for tariffs and for “bypassing Congress” to “issue executive orders to do things that cause us a problem.” He also credited Collins for helping the lobster industry and said he would split his vote between the parties. Collins said she had secured exemptions for items including concrete, wood pulp and road salt. At an Oct. 13 debate, she said she and Jackson would both have voted against Canadian tariffs, but claimed she had negotiated items off the tariff list. Jackson replied: “I'm not going to give Sen. Collins credit for taking things off the list, when we should have never had a list. We shouldn't be in a trade war with Canada.”

The economic strain reaches far beyond Maine. A CNBC All-America Economic Survey found eight in 10 Americans rated the economy fair or poor; 63% were pessimistic about the economy and its outlook. Trump’s economic approval stood at 34%, while 65% disapproved. Eighty percent said prices were rising, and 55% said they were rising faster than usual. Food and groceries topped concerns, especially for people earning $30,000 or less.

Campaigns Turn Hardship Into a Contest

Respondents in the same survey preferred Democratic control of Congress 52% to 45%. Independents favored Democratic control 49% to 33%, while women preferred it by 22 points. A separate AP-NORC poll found about eight in 10 registered voters wanted lowering the cost of living among Congress’s highest priorities. Roughly seven in 10 wanted Congress to prioritize ending the Iran war. About two in 10 wanted Congress to prioritize supporting Trump’s agenda.

Candidates are arguing over who can limit the damage. Jackson’s campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad called Trump’s tariffs “a tax on Maine families and small businesses.” Collins’ campaign declined further comment. Collins’ team said her meeting with Canada’s ambassador helped secure lobster and seafood exclusions; after the meeting, Collins warned tariffs “would have caused tremendous harm to Maine's lobstermen.” In other competitive races, Mike Rogers in Michigan criticized Canada tariffs, while Ashley Hinson in Iowa opposed Trump’s temporary reduction of tariffs on imported ground beef.

Iowa farm incomes fell 53% in the last three years, and Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies more than doubled in the past two years. By December 2025, 19% of mid- to large-sized Iowa farms were considered financially vulnerable, compared with 7.7% in 2022. Hinson and Senate candidate Josh Turek both said tariffs could help farmers if they were narrower. Both also said the Iran war must end because it was hurting farmers. Turek said Trump’s visit offered a chance to see how tariffs and the war had “hurt Iowa more than any other state.”

Campaign groups are also pouring money into cultural fights. Since Aug. 1, Republican candidates or pro-Republican groups had spent more than $100 million on 200 ads referencing transgender issues, according to AdImpact. Trump attacked transgender people and immigrants at rallies, while a CNN/SSRS poll found voters ranked transgender policies below 10 other issues: 25% called them “extremely important,” compared with 68% who said the economy was extremely important. Ramiro Sarmiento of the Human Rights Campaign said Republicans were using “the same recycled anti-trans attacks” to “manufacture a culture war” instead of addressing living costs and corruption.

The Ballot and the Machinery

In Iowa, Decision Desk HQ figures showed Turek leading Hinson by less than a point, 46.7% to 46.3%, although prediction markets favored Hinson. AdImpact reported more than $200 million had gone to broadcast and cable television ads in the state during the cycle. Voters face competing candidates and promises, but tariffs, executive orders, the Iran war and rising costs continue to shape daily life.

Trump announced an $8 billion farmer relief fund ahead of the midterms. Farmers were struggling with high prices as the Iran war and administration tariffs drove up costs; the available segment description gave no further details about the fund. Trump planned to campaign in Sioux City on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m. EDT with Hinson. She said she would be Trump’s ally when it mattered for Iowa and push back when needed. The campaign’s own language lays out the arrangement: access and influence are negotiated at the top, while the bills arrive on the ground.