November 10, 2020 — The European Union has imposed countermeasures against many exports from the United States that it was awarded by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in lieu of illegal U.S. subsidies granted to aircraft-maker Boeing.
With the countermeasures agreed by E.U. member-states, the European Commission’s regulation increasing tariffs on U.S. exports into the E.U. worth USD 4 billion (EUR 3.4 billion) will be published in the Official Journal of the E.U.
November 9, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
Today’s news that the European Union will place tariffs on about $20 million worth of annual United States seafood exports to the EU is disappointing. The seafood communities in the U.S. and EU have long enjoyed a trade relationship that has created tens of thousands of jobs and, most recently, been poised to expand.
It makes no sense that a World Trade Organization dispute about planes that fly 40,000 feet above where fish swim should include seafood. Now, given missteps by both sides, American workers and families will suffer.
The new tariffs come at a time when the seafood industry in both the U.S. and EU are focused on rebuilding and reopening. Such trade barriers distract from this important economic recovery.
November 6, 2020 — Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is increasingly poised to win the presidency with several key battleground states tilting his way in the Electoral College on Friday, 6 November.
In response to Biden taking the lead in the presidential contest, and a high likelihood that Republicans have retained the majority in the U.S. Senate while Democrats retained control of the U.S. House, the seafood industry – and its advocates – are preparing to work with new leadership in Washington D.C.
November 3, 2020 — Tuesday, 3 November is Election Day in the United States, and the results of the national election could have a significant impact on the nation’s seafood industry and the global economy.
Thus far, the tenure of U.S. President Donald Trump – who is up for reelection to a second and final four-year term – has been marked by both positives and negatives for the seafood industry. The Trump administration instigated an ongoing trade war with China by placing tariffs on Chinese goods in July 2018, a move that China reciprocated by placing its own tariffs on U.S. goods – including seafood. Those tariffs had drastic impacts on certain parts of the seafood industry, such as Maine’s lobster industry, which saw an 84 percent drop in exports to China. Total estimates of the impact in 2018 found the trade war cost U.S. seafood exporters USD 350 million (EUR 299 million) that year alone.
October 27, 2020 — For years now, President Donald J. Trump has been standing up to China and other nations, sending the clear message that the United States will no longer tolerate unfair trade practices. While trade damage from unfair retaliation has impacted a host of U.S. commodities, including American seafood, President Trump is taking action on trade policy to open new markets so that American agriculture can compete globally.
High tariffs disrupt normal market patterns, affect prices and export volumes, and raise costs by forcing commodities to find new markets. Additionally, there is evidence that American goods shipped overseas are being slowed from reaching market by unusually strict or cumbersome entry procedures, which can affect the quality and marketability of perishable products. This can boost marketing costs and discount our prices, and adversely affect all those in the Alaska seafood industry.
We always suspected that American agriculture and the world-class seafood industry would likely be among the hardest hit sectors, because our producers are extremely productive and are excellent competitors in the world marketplace. Indeed, of the total tariffs imposed on the United States, a disproportionate amount was targeted directly at our fishermen. In keeping with President Trump’s promise, this administration will not stand by while our hard-working men and women of the seafood industry are treated unfairly by countries acting in bad faith.
October 26, 2020 — The Trump administration was taken to court on 21 October by three seafood-related companies that claim the federal government’s trade policies has harmed their businesses.
Texas-based Houston Seafood Company, LLC along with Gulf Marine Product Co., Inc. and Ningbo Trading Company, LLC, both based in Louisiana, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern Texas.
October 19, 2020 — The European Union can impose tariffs of up to USD 4 billion (EUR 3.4 billion) on imported products from the United States as a countermeasure for illegal subsidies given to American aircraft-maker Boeing, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled.
The decision, made on 13 October, builds upon the WTO’s earlier finding that recognized the Boeing subsidies were illegal.
October 1, 2020 — The transatlantic trade conflict isn’t showing signs of winding down any time soon, and a ruling from the World Trade Organization means that a fresh round of retaliatory tariffs could jeopardize the nascent economic recoveries in both the U.S. and the European Union.
The WTO gave the EU authorization to impose tariffs on $4 billion of U.S. exports over illegal government aid provided to Boeing Co., according to two people familiar with the decision. The EU previously said it would act on the levies immediately to counteract $7.5 billion of tariffs Washington placed on European goods in a separate case involving Toulouse, France-based Airbus SE.
The judgment comes at a delicate moment, with the U.S. presidential election just over a month away and as the U.S. and the EU struggle to recover from coronavirus-induced recessions. The EU tariffs will target coal producers, farmers and fisheries, in addition to aircraft makers, all politically important industries for President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress.
September 23, 2020 — Alaska fishermen can increase their federal trade relief funds by adding higher poundage prices for 15 fish and shellfish species. While it’s welcomed, the payouts are a band-aid on a bigger and ongoing problem.
Through December 14, fishermen can apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP) if their bottom line has been hurt by the Trump administration’s ongoing trade standoffs, primarily with China.
“STRP is part of a federal relief strategy to support fishermen and other producers while the administration continues to work on free, fair and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets to help American producers compete globally,” said a USDA fact sheet.
The damages to fishermen are calculated as the difference with a trade tariff and the baseline without it based on 2019 catches.
September 22, 2020 — China’s aggressive, sometimes illegal fishing practices are the latest source of conflict with the United States.
China has the world’s largest fishing fleet. Beijing claims to send around 2,600 vessels out to fish across the globe, but some maritime experts say this distant-water fishing fleet may number nearly 17,000. The United States has fewer than 300 distant-water ships.
According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations control marine resources within a 200-mile “exclusive economic zone”; beyond that are international waters. While the U.S. never signed the treaty, it has declared a 200-mile offshore exclusive economic zone.