President-elect Donald Trump will return to the Oval Office Monday and has vowed to carry out various “day one” priorities that could affect Maine.
Although the specifics of various pledges are still unclear or subject to changes from the mercurial Republican, the promises that could come to fruition as soon as Trump’s inauguration concludes Monday touch on everything from offshore wind to Jan. 6 rioters, among other issues.
His offshore wind ban is in the works.
Maine has failed to win a massive federal grant for a contentious offshore wind port that Gov. Janet Mills is proposing on Sears Island in Searsport, but that all may not matter if Trump carries through on his vows to halt offshore wind development.
Trump reportedly told U.S. Jeff Van Drew, R-New Jersey, to draft an executive order to halt wind projects. Van Drew told the Associated Press on Wednesday his draft order would halt offshore wind development from Rhode Island to Virginia for six months.
That could allow Trump’s interior secretary nominee, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, to review how leases and permits were issued. Under questioning from U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, he would not commit Thursday to honoring existing leases but generally said projects that “make sense” and are currently in law would continue.
Time will tell if Maine is included. Outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration already started selling leases for areas in the Gulf of Maine that could power more than 4.5 million homes.
Pardons may be on the table for Jan. 6 rioters from Maine.
Trump has vowed to pardon as soon as next week rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and disrupted Congress as it certified Biden’s 2020 election victory, but he has not been clear on whether he will seek to pardon all of the more than 1,500 people who have been charged, with more than 1,000 sentenced so far, or only pardon non-violent offenders.
Roughly a dozen Mainers have been charged in connection with the deadly riot that featured attacks on law enforcement officers. Four Mainers have been charged with violent offenses, and not every case is resolved.
The most prominent defendant, Matthew Brackley, a former Maine Senate candidate from Waldoboro, is serving a 15-month prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to assaulting police. Kyle Fitzsimmons, of Lebanon, received a seven-year prison sentence in July 2023.
His Canada tariff plan already has Maine’s attention.
Trump has threatened to immediately slap 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and higher rates on China. A delegation from Prince Edward Island is in Maine and other New England states this week to make the case for free trade.
Neighboring Canada is the state’s top trade partner, with wood products, seafood and mineral fuels among the key products that cross the border. Tariffs have previously played well politically in Maine but have hurt heritage industries at times, including during Trump’s first term.
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the rural 2nd District, reintroduced his measure Thursday to create a universal 10 percent tariff. Golden pointed to a Congressional Budget Office analysis that found it would raise $2.2 trillion through 2032. But economists have also warned of higher prices for consumers and slower global growth under Trump’s plan.
“Tariffs can be very complicated, but at the end of the day, this is what it means: If it costs our goods and services 25 percent more to come across the border, they’re going to be costing Americans 25 percent more to consume them,” Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said.
