Imagine going to a store. Its window displays are gorgeously designed and carefully curated. As you open the spotless doors the lighting changes slightly above you as if in welcome. The music perfectly matches the setting and everything featured is unique, delightful and useful to you. It’s love at first sight.

You select one of the wonderful items and turn it in your hand. You’re thinking of buying it, but there’s no price listed. You search the shelf but there seems to be no tag. Oh well, price is no object for something this useful! You look for a place to make your purchase but there seems to be no counter, no person to take a payment with her phone, no cash register. After searching for ten minutes, you find a friendly employee, but he doesn’t have helpful answers.

Wait, what?

Your contentment comes to a sudden, screeching halt.

PORTLAND — The American lobster industry is starting to feel the pinch of China’s tariff on U.S. seafood as exporters and dealers cope with sagging prices, new financial pressures and difficulty sending lobsters overseas.