October 24, 2018 — It’s been a month since the Trump administration activated 10 percent tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports and that move has already affected the fishing industry from scallopers to lobstermen, especially Eastern Fisheries located along the New Bedford waterfront.
With the tariffs set to increase to 25 percent at the start of 2019, that could cause catastrophic effects throughout large fishing corporations, economists and companies told The Standard-Times.
“That’s a game changer,” Executive Vice President of Eastern Fisheries Joseph Furtado said. “I think we all feel that the 10 percent is more of a paper cut than it is anything else at this point. And we can work through it.
″…We don’t think the 10 percent is the end of the world, but the 25 percent, that is certainly a dynamic game changer and there’s a lot of variability in how that could all reposition itself.”
Generally, tariffs range from 5 percent to 8 percent, UMass Dartmouth economy professor Randy Hall said.
“There are very few industries that can absorb a 25 percent increase of cost,” Hall said.
Eastern Fisheries operates the largest scallop fleet in the industry and has facilities in the U.S., China, Europe and Japan.
Due to its size and international scale, it’s likely to be the only New Bedford company that’s affected by the tariffs, according to economists and Eastern Fisheries.
Prior to Sept. 24, Eastern would use its facilities in China to process a portion of its overall catch. It would then import the catch to other countries but also back into the United States without a tariff or tax.