Saving Seafood

USITC investigating effects of CETA on US lobster industry

September 2, 2020 — The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has announced it is planning to investigate the impacts of a Canada-E.U. trade agreement on the U.S. lobster industry.

The investigation was kicked off by a letter from the United States Trade Representative requesting the USITC provide a complete overview of the U.S. and Canadian lobster industries, including the trends in exports between both countries and the U.K. and E.U. That letter was itself kicked off by an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump, intended to boost the U.S. lobster industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Consider the Lobster Tariffs: GOP Cheers Trump Move, But Some Mainers Skeptical

August 27, 2020 — It was a bit of good news in an uncertain year for Maine’s lobster industry.

On Friday, the White House and Maine congressional leaders announced the elimination of an 8% tariff on live and frozen lobster into the European Union, which they described as a move would level the playing field with Canadian lobster in that market.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the agreement on Tuesday, saying that “beautiful Maine lobsters will now move tariff-free to Europe,” naming Maine communities like Eastport, Cutler, Jonesport, Stonington, Friendship and Casco Bay as he said the deal will create jobs.

Later that night, the tariff’s elimination was touted on another national stage when Jason Joyce, a lobsterman from Swan’s Island, took the stage at the Republican National Convention.

Read the full story at NBC Boston

EU agrees to cut taxes on US lobsters in modest trade pact

August 24, 2020 — New England lobsters should soon be returning to European pots under a modest trade agreement announced Friday.

In a big win for New England beleaguered lobster industry, the European Union agreed to drop its 8% tariff on U.S. lobsters for the next five years and to work to make the move permanent.

For its part, the United States agreed to cut in half tariffs on EU imports worth about $160 million a year, including some prepared meals, crystal glassware and cigarette lighters. The tariff cuts are retroactive to Aug. 1.

U.S. lobster imports to the EU came to about $111 million in 2017 before falling off in the face of rising tensions between the trading partners and an EU trade agreement with Canada that favored Canadian lobster.

Lobster fishing, based mostly in Maine and Massachusetts, is one of the most lucrative marine industries in New England.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Pacific Squid: Trade hurdles to China remain, but prices are steady

August 21, 2020 — The California squid fleet faced stiff tariffs, covid-crimped markets and a slow start to the season. Oceanic conditions, on the plus side, appear to have improved for the 2020 season.

“It’s been going OK,” says Diane Pleschner-Steele , executive director of the California Wetfish Producers Association, in Buellton. “I don’t think they’re setting the world on fire, but they’re catching.”

According to PacFIN, the 2020 harvest of squid for California, Oregon and Washington stood at around 42,000 short tons as of early July. Based on data from previous years, Pleschner-Steele adds that this year’s preliminary catch of 10,107 short tons for California (according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife as of June 26) and other oceanographic data suggests that the fishing grounds indeed felt the effects of El Niño conditions in 2018 and 2019. 

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Joint Statement of the United States and the European Union on a Tariff Agreement

August 21, 2020 — The following was released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative:

United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan today announced agreement on a package of tariff reductions that will increase market access for hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and EU exports.  These tariff reductions are the first U.S.-EU negotiated reductions in duties in more than two decades.

Under the agreement, the EU will eliminate tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products.  U.S. exports of these products to the EU were over $111 million in 2017.  The EU will eliminate these tariffs on a Most Favored Nation (MFN) basis, retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.  The EU tariffs will be eliminated for a period of five years and the European Commission will promptly initiate procedures aimed at making the tariff changes permanent.  The United States will reduce by 50% its tariff rates on certain products exported by the EU worth an average annual trade value of $160 million, including certain prepared meals, certain crystal glassware, surface preparations, propellant powders, cigarette lighters and lighter parts.  The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on an MFN basis and retroactive to begin August 1, 2020.

“As part of improving EU-US relations, this mutually beneficial agreement will bring positive results to the economies of both the United States and the European Union.  We intend for this package of tariff reductions to mark just the beginning of a process that will lead to additional agreements that create more free, fair, and reciprocal transatlantic trade,” said Ambassador Lighthizer and Commissioner Hogan.

Timeline on Negotiations:

In 2019, at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the United States completed formal procedures necessary to launch negotiations on a trade agreement, as did the European Commission.

In September 2018, as required by the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, Ambassador Lighthizer consulted with members of Congress on the Trump Administration’s interest in launching trade negotiations with the EU.  On October 16, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative officially notified Congress that President Trump intended to launch trade negotiations with the EU.  On January 11, 2019, following consultations with Congress and public comment period from U.S. stakeholders, the Trump Administration issued formal U.S. negotiating objectives for the EU.

The agreement being announced today arose out of continuing engagement with the EU on these issues.

EU drops tariffs on US lobster

August 21, 2020 — The European Union will immediately eliminate its tariffs on imports of U.S. live and frozen lobster products, according to an announcement from the United States Trade Representative’s office.

An agreement struck between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan on Friday, 21 August will result in the E.U. eliminating the lobster tariffs on a Most-Favored Nation basis, retroactive to 1 August, 2020. In return, the United States will reduce by 50 percent its tariffs on a variety of products including prepared meals, glassware, propellant powders, cigarette lighters, and other products collectively valued at around USD 160 million (EUR 135.7 million). The U.S. tariff reductions will also be made on a Most-Favored Nation basis and are retroactive to 1 August.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine delegation steps up pressure on Trump administration to release lobster industry aid

August 20, 2020 — Maine’s congressional delegation wrote a letter to a federal agency on Wednesday asking it to act immediately on aid recommended by President Donald Trump for the lobster industry, which has been struggling under the effects of tariffs and the coronavirus pandemic.

The group asked U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to act before Monday’s deadline. In his June 24 memo, which came three weeks after he visited fisheries experts in Maine, the president urged Perdue to consider taking appropriate action “to provide assistance to fisherman and producers in the U.S. lobster industry that continue to be harmed by China’s retaliatory tariffs.”

Since then, the administration has been largely silent about any firm actions it might take. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from Maine’s 1st District, in early July inserted language into a 2021 spending bill that would require the USDA to act swiftly on the aid.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

LARRY BARKER: Lobstering restrictions will hurt much more than Maine’s fishermen

August 11, 2020 — Maine’s lobster industry is threatened by “a perfect storm” as it faces a crippling lack of demand because of both the pandemic and the China trade war, and a cascade of impacts from the development of government-mandated restrictions seeking to protect the endangered right whale. All Mainers should be aware of how political pressure to reverse the decline of right whales is affecting our fishermen, bringing with it disastrous ripple effects that will affect tens of thousands of livelihoods across our treasured state. Despite Maine’s stellar track record in protecting right whales, this battleground recently resulted in the loss of a sustainability certification, which means loss of even more markets for Maine lobster.

The Maine lobster industry is the backbone of our coastal communities from Portland to Eastport. Machias Savings Bank has been one of Maine’s leading sources of financing for this industry for decades and we understand that as the industry ebbs and flows, so do the economies of Maine’s coastal communities.

Since the 1990s, Maine lobstermen have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the protection of whales by making significant changes to how they fish, consistently adhering to whale-protection standards, participating in discussions of best practices to ensure whale safety and being actively involved in the development of new materials and techniques that are safer for whales. According to data collected by the National Marine Fisheries Service, no right whale deaths or serious injuries have ever been documented in Maine lobster gear. I have many good friends who are lobster fishermen. My son is a lobster fisherman. I have asked many of them about this issue and not only have they never had a right whale tangled in their gear, they have never seen a right whale while tending their gear in Maine!

Read the full opinion piece at the Portland Press Herald

USTR extends tariff exclusions for some seafood products, others will face tariffs again

August 10, 2020 — The United States Trade Representative has released a list of products shipped from China that will receive an extension of tariff exclusions, with several seafood items on the list.

The exclusion extensions apply to several seafood products shipped from China, and allows those products to continue avoiding a 25 percent tariff. The product exclusions will continue to retroactively apply as of 24 September, 2018, and were set to expire on 7 August before the extension which came on the last day before those products would be back under the tariff program.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seafood could be casualty in escalating US trade spat with EU

July 31, 2020 — US companies importing seafood into the United States from the European Union (EU) or United Kingdom may have to contend with an up to 100-percent tariff increase as part of a decades-long US World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over subsidies given to Netherlands-based Airbus.

On July 26 the US Trade Representative (USTR) accepted its final comments for a proposal that $3.1 billion (€2.6 billion) worth of products, including seafood, be slapped with tariffs of up to 100 percent. The United Kingdom is also included as part of that list.

The USTR is set to make a decision on the tariffs in August.

The seafood products, which have been considered for previous tariff action but have avoided US tariffs so far, are from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Read the full story at IntraFish