Pingree introduces legislation to expand trade with Iceland

Courtesy U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree's office The city of Reykjavík, Iceland.

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U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, has initiated a bipartisan effort to bolster trade relations with Iceland — a key trading partner for Maine, given that Portland has the primary U.S. port for the Icelandic shipping company Eimskip.

Pingree and U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., introduced the Iceland Commercial and Economic Leadership for Arctic and National Development Act. The legislation would add Iceland to the list of nations eligible for investment and trade in the U.S. and further requires that Americans are treated similarly by the government of Iceland.

The bill would also make Icelanders eligible for E-1 and E-2 non-immigrant work visas, which would be a change. Iceland is one of the few European countries excluded from this visa program.

“Iceland has long been an important trade partner of the United States, and especially for Maine, where our longstanding shipping and seafood trade with Iceland has fostered deep economic and cultural ties," Pingree said in a news release. “This act would strengthen that partnership for generations to come, creating greater economic opportunities for both countries at a time when the global economic order is rapidly shifting."

Pingree added that the act, which goes by the acronym ICELAND, would bring the countries into closer strategic alignment.

Iceland exports to the U.S. seafood with a total value of $247 million, optical and medical instruments ($75 million), beverages ($31 million) and machinery ($16 million).

Eimskip USA moved its port of call from Virginia to Portland in 2013.