Trump is really upset about lobster right now

With the nation in chaos, President Trump is keeping his eye on … the lobster.

Speaking from an elaborate set that involved a fishing boat and carefully-positioned lobster traps, Trump announced that he is creating a new task force designed to crack down on illegally harvested fish as well as reopening a fragile marine conservation area off of Cape Cod, the Northeast Canyons, to commercial fishing — a move environmentalists say could do damage that takes centuries for the region to recover from, if it does at all.

During the roundtable, Trump expressed interest in the industry, asking if lobsters harvested in Canada and lobsters harvested in the adjoining state of Maine "are … the same lobster, would you say, basically? Would you say they're equivalent as lobster? Is there a difference in size, or type?"

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Trump additionally threatened to impose auto tariffs on the European Union if the bloc doesn't lift its duties on lobsters imported from the U.S., expressing frustration that the EU does not charge Canada such a tariff. "Peter Navarro's going to be the lobster king now, okay?" Trump said.

Notably, Canada and the EU drew up the trade agreement that gave Canada an advantage over American lobster back in 2017, partially as a result of Trump's tough trade terms. Additionally, while Maine used to export lobster heavily to China, the trade war with Beijing prompted the country to slap a retaliatory 25 percent tariff on U.S. lobster. Sales to China decreased by 70 percent while at the same time Beijing "cut the Chinese tariff on lobster bought from Canada, Maine's fierce rival in the lobster business," The Atlantic reports. "As a result, Canada has seen its lobster exports to China nearly double. Maine may never recover its previously dominant position in this export market."