Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, at his home in Lewiston in October. Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald file

President-elect Donald Trump promised to impose sweeping tariffs. Days before Trump is set to take office, Maine’s 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden has introduced similar legislation — a 10% tariff on all imported goods.

It’s intended to protect Maine industries and workers against unfair competition, Golden said.

The Democrat from Lewiston, fresh off a narrow reelection win in November, said in an interview that his proposal would put the U.S. on more equal footing with trading partners that for years have protected their industries and workers. In contrast, Maine has lost jobs in manufacturing, lumber and other industries because the U.S. has failed to shield its workers and markets from unbalanced trade, he says.

“It’s a lie that we allowed ourselves to believe, that our allies around the world don’t pursue protectionist measures,” he said.

Golden pushed back against two arguments against tariffs: that the levies are inflationary because producers will pass added costs to consumers and that governments will retaliate against the U.S. with tariffs of their own.

He said an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office shows that a 10% “universal tariff” could spur a short-term increase in prices of some foreign goods and services, but would likely reduce the cost of other goods and services, drive up the incomes of American workers and have no long-term effect on inflation. Addressing the possibility of protectionist retaliation, Golden said U.S. markets are among the largest in the world widely sought by trading partners and other countries.

“For the time being, dollar for dollar, we’ll out-compete them. They need us,” Golden said.

Although the CBO report acknowledged no long-term inflationary impact, it predicts that cost increases would “put upward pressure on inflation over the first few years in which the tariffs were in place.” The analysis said increases in tariffs on U.S. imports and retaliation from trading partners over the next decade would reduce the size of the economy and increase businesses’ uncertainty about barriers to trade, cutting returns on new investments.

Golden told the Washington Post that no House Republican or Democrat has agreed to co-sponsor his bill.

Representatives of Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st district, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, did not respond to emails Thursday seeking their opinions of Golden’s legislation. A spokesman for Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said King is withholding comment on the issue of tariffs until more details emerge about policies developed by the Trump administration and Congress.

Kristin Vekasi, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine, argues that tariffs are inflationary and would likely lead to a cascade of policies and responses that could ultimately undermine Golden’s intent to protect jobs.

“There’s broad consensus about some aspects of tariffs,” she said. “The thing that we generally see with tariffs is they increase prices for consumers.”

That could prompt the Federal Reserve to again raise interest rates to fend off inflation, in turn prodding investors to shift money to bonds, increasing the value of the dollar that would make goods less competitive in global markets and hurting production and jeopardizing jobs, Vekasi said.

In addition, if retaliatory tariffs are imposed on hydropower from Canada and oil from other nations, higher energy costs would affect most industries, she said.

Stefano Tijerina, who teaches international business at the University of Maine Business School, said more than 50% of Maine’s trade is with Canada and tariffs “would affect us tremendously.” Lumber and tourists “mostly come from Canada” and lobsters fished off Maine typically end up in Canadian canneries, he said.

Many companies have moved to Canada and other nations to sell goods back to U.S. consumers, he said. “We’d be putting tariffs on our own products,” Tijerina said.

While Golden’s legislation can be interpreted as bolstering President-elect Donald Trump’s push for tariffs after he takes office Monday, Golden introduced similar legislation in September and said tariffs were established by President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, both Democrats. A softwood lumber tariff dates to the Obama administration, he said, and Biden raised tariffs against China.

The 10% percent tariff would apply to all imported goods and services, and would increase or decrease by 5%, depending on whether the U.S. maintains a trade deficit or surplus.

Golden said job losses accelerated in the 1990s due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has become a magnet of anti-free trade animus that crosses political lines from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the left to Trump on the right.

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Police say they have made an arrest in connection with a shooting last month that stemmed from a fight that broke out at a steakhouse in South Portland, Maine, last month.

South Portland police said 21-year-old Jonathan Hanson, of Buxton, was arrested Wednesday in Buxton. He was one of two suspects in a Dec. 18 incident in the Maine Mall area. The other one, 21-year-old Navinn Ean, of Westbrook, is still at large.

Police said they responded to the Kobe Steakhouse at 380 Gorham Road at 5:13 p.m. that day for a report of a possible shooting in the parking lot. Responding officers learned that a fight had broken out inside the restaurant between two sets of individuals. The altercation moved from inside the restaurant to the parking lot, where a suspect from one of the groups displayed and threatened people in the other group with a handgun.

The victims were able to flee in a vehicle, but they were followed by the suspect in another vehicle. When both vehicles reached the intersection of Gorham Road and Western Avenue, the suspect allegedly fired the gun in the direction of the victim’s vehicle. The vehicle was struck by gunfire, and the suspect then fled onto Western Avenue.

No one was injured in the incident, police said.

South Portland police said their investigation led them to believe the vehicle used in the crime, a blue Dodge Charger, was located at an address in Naples. A search warrant for the property was issued, and the vehicle was impounded as evidence. The suspects were not present, however.

On Tuesday night, Buxton police attempted to make a traffic stop on a pickup truck, but the driver sped off in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid contact with police.

Buxton police later located the vehicle in a driveway on Haines Meadow Road, an address with ties to the South Portland shooting suspects. As officers were getting ready to enter the home, they used a loudspeaker system in an attempt to make contact with Hanson, who they believed to be inside. He eventually came out and was arrested around 11:30 p.m.

Hanson was taken to Cumberland County Jail and faces charges of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, criminal mischief and terrorizing. He was arraigned Wednesday and bail was set at $10,000 cash.

Maine’s last red snapper maker is changing the recipe for its iconic hot dogs after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned a key dye the company uses to give the sausages their distinctive color.

The FDA is banning the use of red dye No. 3 in foods, drinks and medications. The synthetic dye is often used to give products a bright, cherry-red color and was linked more than 30 years ago to cancer in animals.

In November 2022, roughly two dozen advocacy organizations and individuals filed a petition to ban the dye, according to the FDA.

W.A. Bean & Sons, the lone remaining Maine-based company that makes the bright hot dogs often called “red snappers,” uses red dye No. 3 along with red dye No. 40 and yellow dye No. 6, according to the package.

The company expected the FDA to eventually ban the ingredient, said Sean Smith, W.A. Bean & Sons’ sales director. Because of this, the business has been exploring ways to make red snappers without the artificial additive while keeping the color and taste identical, Smith said.

“We’ve done test batches already and we expect to have something ready very soon,” Smith said. “We’ve survived multiple world wars and depressions and our red hot dogs aren’t going anywhere.”

Smith declined to share further details on how the secret recipe for red hot dogs will change.

The FDA’s ban comes at a time when W.A. Bean & Sons is seeing sales of the iconic red snappers soar. The company now makes an estimated 650,000 to 700,000 pounds of red dogs annually, compared with the 400,000 pounds they made a decade ago, Smith previously told the Bangor Daily News.

The hot dogs are often called “red snappers” due to the thick casing that gives the sausages their distinctive “snap” when you bite into them. The product has joined the ranks of blueberries, lobster and whoopie pies as an iconic Maine food, despite other states having hot dogs with a similar hue or snappy consistency.

Food manufacturers have until Jan. 15, 2027, to stop using red dye No. 3 in products while drug manufacturers have until Jan. 18, 2028, according to the FDA. Other countries that allow the ingredient will have to comply with FDA rules if products are imported to the U.S.

W.A. Bean & Sons’ foresight is good news for Simones’ Hot Dog Stand in Lewiston, where red snappers have been a top-selling item throughout its 117-year history, according to owner Jim Simones.

“We’ve been in business since 1908 and we’re synonymous with the red dogs,” Simones said. “We sell beef dogs too, but red dogs are the most popular.”

When tourists stumble upon red hot dogs at Simones’ stand, they often question what gives them their glaring reddish-pink color. But, once customers try them, they usually find they like the sausages, Simones said.

“I tell them they’re just like our lobsters — when we put them in boiling water, they turn red,” Simones said.

Simones was pleased to hear W.A. Bean & Sons is finalizing a red hot dog recipe that doesn’t use the outlawed dye but will keep the product’s color the same.  

“It’s unique to Maine,” he said of the snappers. “You can’t lose that red.”