Speaker Appoints Rep. Hickman to Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission

AUGUSTA – Rep. Craig Hickman of Winthrop has been appointed to the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission by House Speaker Mark Eves.

“It is a great honor to have been appointed to this commission,” said Hickman. “I intend to work hard to ensure that Maine is well represented in trade agreements that affect our state.”

Hickman, an organic farmer and House chair of the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, has concerns about how fast-track trade agreements will affect Maine farms and rural livelihoods, as voiced in a recent op-ed coauthored with former Rep. Sharon Anglin Treat. They noted that a commission report highlighted key concerns about the impact of free trade agreements on Maine agriculture, including how the Trans-Pacific Partnership could affect dairy stabilization efforts and the proposed elimination of local food procurement preferences in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The commission was created in 2004 to give Mainers a stronger voice in federally negotiated international trade agreements and to monitor how those agreements affect state and local laws, working conditions and the local economy.

Hickman is serving his second term in the Maine House and represents Winthrop, Readfield, and part of North Monmouth at the foot of Mt. Pisgah.

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