Saving Seafood

Walmart makes more layoffs as operators worry about tariffs’ impact

July 18, 2025 — The U.S. grocery industry and seafood suppliers continued to struggle with economic challenges, as Walmart is reportedly cutting hundreds of store-support corporate employees and Kroger consolidates its Texas operations.

U.S. grocery prices rose in June, and around 80 percent of retailers and grocery suppliers believe that trade policies and tariffs will continue to impact pricing and disrupt supply chains, according to FMI – The Food Industry Association’s new report, The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2025. The report also found foodservice operators are similarly worried about higher food costs and tariffs.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump announces tariff deal with Indonesia

July 16, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a tariff deal with Indonesia that will set tariffs for the Southeast Asian nation at 19 percent.

The new deal reduces tariffs from the planned 32 percent initially announced in April 2025. Trump announced the deal on his social media website Truth Social, and it was later confirmed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. The new rate will go into effect on 1 August.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

“We are going to be hitting Covid-level prices soon” – US crab importer warns of tariff-driven cost increases

July 15, 2025 — Though container prices between Asia and the U.S. are down slightly from the highs importers saw in May and June, continued economic uncertainty is likely to drive price increases among some seafood species, Supreme Crab CEO Troy Turkin told SeafoodSource.

“It’s a new world,” Turkin said, describing fast-moving policy evolutions he’s seeing that are affecting his business, which specializes in luxury imports like blue and red swimming crabs and frozen tuna, among other products.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump adds EU, Mexico to list of trading partners threatened with 30 percent tariffs

July 14, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has added the European Union and Mexico to the list of trading partners the U.S. is threatening with 30 percent tariffs as of 1 August.

Trump sent letters to both Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatening tariffs as of 1 August – with differing reasons for implementation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump threatens Canada with 35 percent tariffs, but exceptions could benefit seafood

July 11, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Canada – the U.S.’s largest seafood trading partner – with 35 percent tariffs, but an official later confirmed the higher rate may not apply to most seafood.

In a letter sent to Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump once again claimed the “Nation’s Fentanyl crisis” is motivation for the tariffs and blamed Canada’s “failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our Country” for the new threats.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Trump plans tariff pause, threatens higher tariffs on BRICS countries, South Korea, and Japan

July 7, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to add an additional 10 percent tariff to any country aligned with BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and then later threatened 25 percent tariffs as of 1 August on China, South Korea, and Japan, just before the White house announced his intention to extend the “liberation day” tariff pause to 1 August.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told media on 7 July that Trump was planning to sign an order to extend the pause on the steepest tariffs until 1 August. She also said Trump was planning to send letters to other countries about the new rates they would face if they did not negotiate new deals with the U.S.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick vows to support Maine lobster, suggests industry will be exempt from tariffs on Canada

June 9, 2025 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick vowed to protect and support Maine lobster during a hearing on his department’s budget plans, while suggesting that Maine lobster processed in Canada would likely be unaffected by new tariffs.

“This administration views the Maine lobster industry as an American treasure, and we need to protect it,” Lutnick told lawmakers during a 4 June budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska seafood industry ‘uniquely vulnerable’ to tariff impacts, trade groups say

June 5, 2025 — Alaska’s seafood industry could see an outsized impact from international tariffs, according to experts.

In April, President Donald Trump announced a major tariff hike on China, escalating up to 145%, and China retaliated with similar rates. Though both governments struck a deal in May delaying any increases by at least 90 days, they haven’t been canceled, and tariffs have stayed elevated since his last presidency. That makes Alaska seafood less competitive in China, one of the largest markets for it internationally.

Two trade groups representing some of Alaska’s largest seafood processors — the Pacific Seafood Processors Association and the At-Sea Processors Association — sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative March 11 urging caution on new tariffs worldwide.

“(Alaska is) heavily dependent on fair access to export markets, and also uniquely vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs that our trading partners may seek to impose in the event of heightened trade tensions,” they wrote. “Accordingly, care must be taken to remedy these issues in a manner that does not increase the harm to U.S. seafood producers.”

The letter points to an “existential and global threat” to Alaska’s seafood industry in recent years due to unfair trade practices by Russia, which has been overproducing and flooding world markets for years, especially for pollock. The U.S. currently has broad trade sanctions on Russia.

Read the full article at Alaska Journal of Commerce

BJ’s expands its Fresh 2.0 initiative to include meat and seafood; Costco sales soar amid tariff landscape

June 4, 2025 — Sales and foot traffic at U.S. warehouse club retailers continue to spike, and executives at BJ’s Wholesale Club, which operates 215 stores across 16 U.S. states, are betting on a bigger portion of future sales to come from fresh meat and seafood.

The Marlborough, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based company recently announced it is expanding its Fresh 2.0 Initiative to include meat and seafood, Chairman and CEO Bob Eddy said during a recent conference call with investors.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

USTR extends Section 301 tariff exclusions on certain seafood for another three months

June 3, 2025 — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has granted certain Section 301 tariff exclusions on some seafood items, giving the products another three months to avoid a higher 25 percent tariff rate.

The Section 301 tariffs stem from the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump, who first hit Chinese products with a 10 percent tariff in 2018. That move started Trump’s first trade war with China, which resulted in 25 percent tariffs being placed on a wide array of goods from China related to the Section 301 Investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource