Saving Seafood

Seafood importers and shippers fear effects of USTR proposal to charge Chinese vessels

March 4, 2025 — On 24 February, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a nearly 200-page investigation into China’s shipping dominance, proposing, among other suggestions, that the U.S. charge up to USD 1.5 million (EUR 1.43 million) for Chinese-built vessels and USD 500,000 (EUR 478,642) for vessels with Chinese-built ships among their fleet to enter the nation’s ports.

The proposed fee would respond to what the USTR says are unfair shipping practices carried out by China, according to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump says 4 March start date for 25 percent tariffs on Canada, Mexico still on, plans an additional 10 percent tariff on China

February 27, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump clarified the start date of 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico will be 4 March, after comments on 26 February suggested they could be delayed until April.

Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that the tariffs originally delayed on 4 February until 4 March will go forward as scheduled. Trump said the tariffs will go into place because “drugs are still pouring into our country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Southern Shrimp Alliance echoes US congressman’s calls for tariffs on foreign seafood

February 13, 2025 — U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) recently sent a letter to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump that offered simple advice on Trump’s tariff policies: To save American seafood, tax imports from China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. 

Higgins shared the letter he sent to the president on social media platform X with the caption, “Protecting the American seafood industry requires aggressive action.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Chinese government quietly heeding NGO advice by trying to rein in provincial distant-water fleets

February 7, 2025 — China has become more receptive to advice and pressure from international NGOs on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing matters, according to Hang Zhou, a professor at Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based University of Laval.

Zhou, who has a postdoctoral background in fisheries research and has collaborated both with wildlife conservation groups and Chinese international diplomacy groups, told SeafoodSource that international NGOs in the fisheries sector “have [direct] channels of communication and interaction with Chinese line ministries and research institutes.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump pauses 25 percent tariffs on Canada, but Chinese tariffs take effect

February 4, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has paused planned 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, barring a 10 percent carveout for energy, following a conversation with Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trump announced on his Truth Social social media platform that Canada has “agreed to ensure we have a secure Northern Border” as part of a CAD 1.3 billion (USD EUR ) border plan. The move came just hours after he also balked at applying 25 percent tariffs to Mexico for a month, based on similar promises that the country would increase security at its border with the U.S.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump nominee vows to keep NOAA intact, stop “communist fish” from entering US

February 3, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Commerce Howard Lutnick told U.S. senators at his confirmation hearing that he would not dismantle NOAA and would work to protect American fishers.

Under questioning from lawmakers, Lutnick said that he looked forward to working with the president in implementing tariffs to gain respect from foreign nations.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Some in seafood industry see Trump as fishermen’s friend, but tariffs could make for pricier fish

December 13, 2024 — The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is likely to bring big changes for one of the oldest sectors of the U.S. economy — seafood — and some in the industry believe the returning president will be more responsive to its needs.

Economic analysts paint a more complicated picture, as they fear Trump’s pending trade hostilities with major trading partners Canada and China could make an already pricy kind of protein more expensive to consumers. Conservationists also fear Trump’s emphasis on government deregulation could jeopardize fish stocks that are already in peril.

Read the full article at WNKY

IUCN report questions China’s fish conservation, management efforts to revive domestic stocks

December 12, 2024 — A new report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has highlighted China’s weak efforts to revive fish stocks in its own waters, suggesting a need for China to implement more stringent controls on its fleet’s landings and collect better data to effectively measure the impacts of those controls.

Titled “Unselective, unsustainable, and unmonitored trawl fisheries?” the report states that efforts made in the past decade by China to replenish fish stocks in its domestic waters, such as scrapping vessels and instituting annual moratoriums on fishing in the East and South China seas, have not been enforced strongly enough to combat dwindling fish populations.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Potential US tariffs, poor domestic demand have Chinese seafood firms turning toward Southeast Asia

December 2, 2024 — Facing dwindling domestic demand and potential new tariffs in the U.S., some Chinese seafood firms have begun to cast their attention toward Southeast Asia.

Guangdon, China-based Guolian Aquatic and Guangdong Evergreen – a conglomerate which produces and processes fish, shrimp, and aquafeed, – have targeted Indonesia as a location that may be able to offer more consistently lucrative business.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Trump’s tariff proposal on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China would affect over USD 5.6 billion in seafood

November 27, 2024 — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump proposed big hikes in tariffs on all goods from Canada, Mexico, and China on 25 November in a move that would affect one-fifth of all U.S. seafood imports by value.

Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, said he would charge tariffs of 25 percent on all products from Mexico and Canada and 10 percent tariffs on goods from China – above any existing tariffs.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource