March 28, 2025 — With U.S. President Donald Trump set on reordering international trade to align with his “America First” priorities, seafood companies have been quick to list areas where they would like to see improvements.
Trump has moved swiftly in the first months of his second term to change the nation’s trade policies, threatening and implementing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.
March 25, 2025 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added eight Chinese clam exporters to a recent import alert due to contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The FDA said that products from the eight manufacturers and processors had “detected elevated levels of PFAS, notably perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), in samples of clams.”
March 13, 2025 — Attempts from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to shutter the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have resulted in over USD 1 million (EUR 920,000) of funding being cut off to an Australian research organization that has heavily reported on China’s fishing ambitions.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institution (ASPI), a Canberra, Australia-based defense and strategic policy think tank, reportedly lost USD 1.2 million (USD 1.1 million) in USAID funding for research on China, according to the Wall Street Journal.
March 12, 2025 — The seafood industry has so far mostly avoided tariffs on imports amid the global trade war started by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from all countries with no exemption starting 12 March, and the European Union and Canada immediately retaliated with new tariffs of their own. Trump claimed the tariffs are being imposed as imports of steel and aluminum pose a “national security threat.”
March 11, 2025 — Container ports in the United States are seeing elevated cargo levels, according to the Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. The report comes amid rising uncertainty over tariffs in the U.S., where President Donald Trump’s rapidly evolving trade policy has shaken up the shipping industry and sent a chill through markets.
NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said that uncertainty around tariffs, particularly those on goods from China, is leading retailers to rush their imports into the country.
March 11, 2025 — Industry groups are pushing Canada’s government to engage diplomatically before tariffs decimate seafood companies
China recently announced 25 percent tariffs on Canadian seafood species – set to go into effect on 20 March – and leaders in the industry are anticipating a huge impact for multiple species.
March 10, 2025 — New tariffs on Chinese goods introduced by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump are causing havoc for Chinese seafood exporters, according to Landy Chow, the marketing manager of seafood import/export firm Siam Canadian.
Chow, who is based in China, told SeafoodSource that the impact of the new tariffs could be devastating for processors of breaded shrimp products exported from China to the U.S. – a seafood category in which China dominated prior to the imposition of 25 percent tariffs during the first Trump administration.
March 10, 2025 — Nearly 16 million people in China depend on fisheries production for their livelihoods. A massive overhaul of the law governing their work, unveiled in December 2024, could impact all of them.
China’s current fisheries law came into force in 1986. The amendments proposed to it last year are the most extensive since 2000, Zhang Yanxuedan, an associate professor at Shanghai Ocean University’s College of Marine Culture and Law, told Dialogue Earth.
That revision 25 years ago brought in a system of management based on total allowable catch. It has had three minor updates in subsequent years.
In contrast, 48 of 50 existing articles would be amended in the latest proposals, which also add 32 new articles and a whole chapter on supervision and management of fisheries. This reform has been in preparation for a decade, says Zhang, and she has “great hope” that it will be passed this year.
The revision places a strong focus on sustainability and conservation, which has pleased many in environmental circles. Wang Songlin, president of the Qingdao Marine Conservation Society, says: “Generally, I feel like this version of [the] fisheries law has more emphasis on sustainable development and green development.”
Others say they want to see more protections for fishers’ livelihoods, as the legislation could alter many existing ways of harvesting the seas.
This is what you need to know about the looming shake up.
Tracking food from net to plate
Logging and sharing data about fish from the point of catch to the point of sale, also known as traceability management, can help curb illegal fishing and overfishing. A new article in the draft states that China “encourages fishing vessels to berth and unload their catch at designated ports and implement traceability management of catch”.
Huang Shan, an ocean campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, points out that “encourages” is different to “mandates”. She says an unimplemented 2019 draft of the reform stipulated more specific measures, including product labelling that would give information of the vessel’s name and number, fishing license, fishing area and gear used for fishing. “But they were all deleted in this version,” she adds.
Zhang, who was involved in drafting the law, says the “encouragement” shows the government’s will to continuously drive better traceability so that the origins of all major catches will gradually be traceable. This would further curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and ensure the quality and safety of aquatic products, she adds.
But the enormous number of fishing boats in China makes implementation difficult, Zhang says. The nation has nearly 500,000 such vessels, of which 46,000 are large and medium-sized, according to official data. Checking compliance will put major pressure on ports, and authorities will need time to build enforcement capacity.
The draft law also proposes giving ports the authority to inspect foreign vessels and deny entry to those suspected of involvement in IUU fishing.
Zhou Wei, head of the oceans programme at Greenpeace East Asia, says the move shows China’s willingness to align with the Port State Measures Agreement to tackle IUU fishing by preventing non-compliant vessels from landing catches. The PSMA is a key international deal under the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization which China has for some years said it is working towards joining, most recently in a 2023 white paper.
March 10, 2025 — The government of China announced it is imposing 25 percent tariffs on an array of seafood items from Canada, in what it said was a response to Canadian tariffs on certain goods from China.
China’s Ministry of Finance announced the new tariffs on 8 March, and said the new tariffs are in response to a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles and a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum products from China. Canada announced the set of tariffs in October 2024, and said it plans to tariff a range of goods including rapeseed oil, pork, and seafood.
March 10, 2025 — Overall U.S. retail and grocery sales fell slightly month-over-month in February as consumer concern about tariffs and food inflation tightened spending, but despite the drop sales still increased year-over-year, according to new data.
Sales at grocery and beverage stores fell 0.07 percent from January to February, but soared 4.08 percent year over year unadjusted, according to the National Retail Federation’s CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor. Total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, also declined 0.22 percent seasonally adjusted in February, but inclined 3.38 percent unadjusted year over year.