September 11, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide $530 million in relief payments for fishermen taking a hit from retaliatory foreign trade tariffs during 2019, using economic modeling to calculate how much trade wars have cost the industry.
“The Seafood Trade Relief Program ensures fishermen and other U.S. producers will not stand alone in facing unjustified retaliatory tariffs while President Trump continues working to solidify better and stronger trade deals around the globe,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said in announcing the program.
Promised by Trump after a June 5 roundtable meeting with Maine fishermen, the STRP comes out of a June 24 presidential memorandum directing the same tariff relief for marine fisheries as for farming.
USDA experts use economic modeling to calculate how much tariffs reduced the value of each species, and how much per pound fishermen should be reimbursed.
For example, lobster exports were hit hard by China and European Union tariffs, and the economic modeling USDA uses to calculate ranks them in the top payment rates, $0.50 per pound. The Northwest geoduck fishery took a hit of $0.76 per pound, according to the modeling.