May 28, 2025 — The European Union is open to extending a deal which allows the duty-free import of U.S. lobsters as part of a broader package aimed at removing U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing two officials.
The EU’s current regulation eliminating customs duties for fresh and frozen lobsters from the U.S. expires on July 31. The lobster deal between the U.S. and EU was struck in 2020 during Trump’s first term.
May 27, 2025 — Some U.S. restaurants and retailers are already passing along the costs of tariffs to customers and have warned that future price increases on their products may occur should higher tariffs go into effect, such as proposed 46 percent tariffs on products like shrimp from Vietnam and 50 percent duties on E.U. imports.
Today’s Crab House in Oxon Hill, Maryland, U.S.A., is one such restaurant that recently raised prices on shrimp and crabs.
May 22, 2025 — Though the U.S.-China tariff pause has provided U.S. import businesses with a reprieve, many are still struggling to create long-term growth strategies in the current environment, experts say.
Reed Smith Global Regulatory Enforcement Group Chair Michael Lowell told SeafoodSource that the current situation is “just a lesser-of-two-evils scenario.”
May 21, 2025 — The West Coast seafood industry is caught in the crosshairs of tariff uncertainty. International orders have been canceled, which impacts Oregon workers. Industry leaders and Oregon’s Democratic Congressional delegation have asked the US Department of Agriculture to step in. Lori Steele is the executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. She joins us with details of the challenges facing the industry.
May 20, 2025 — Walmart CEO Doug McMillon recently said that the massive global retailer will likely have to raise prices due to tariffs instituted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In response, Trump said that Walmart should just “eat the tariffs.”
May 16 2025 — Supply chain experts are cautiously optimistic as they track changes in cargo and import levels since the 90-day pause on U.S.-Chinese import tariffs began on 12 May.
As a result of the pause, preliminary information from various cargo and import indexes appears to suggest that an import spike may be coming in the near future.
May 13, 2025 — The U.S. and China’s recent agreement to reduce tariffs has garnered mixed reactions from the seafood and retail industries.
In a joint statement, both the U.S. and China agreed to modify duties the two countries had placed on goods from the other country on 12 May for 90 days. Effective 14 May, both countries will reduce tariff rates by 115 percent as the two continue discussions about economic and trade relations.
May 13, 2025 — Antwerp, Belgium-based food-processing machinery firm Steen said that recent trade disruptions stemming from U.S. tariffs have caused some of their American buyers to hold off on new deals.
“After the tariffs were announced, some people who [verbally] committed to buying from us said they were, instead, going to hold off and see how things play out,” Steen International Sales Manager Laurenz Seesing told SeafoodSource at the 2025 Seafood Expo Global. “I think we can expect a latency or a delay rather than full cancellations because, eventually, companies will need to buy machinery, and most of the [processing machinery] stuff is produced in Europe.”
May 8, 2025 — U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war has sent seafood companies scrambling to move production and secure new trade partners as they desperately seek to avoid the brunt of new tariffs.
“We’re living in a brave new world,” Matthew Latimer, managing director and general counsel of ACT Capital Advisors, said during a panel at Seafood Expo Global, which took place from 6 to 8 May in Barcelona Spain. “The recent round of trade restrictions and tariffs that were announced in the United States have triggered a scramble among seafood suppliers and distributors and wholesalers and retailers to constantly adapt – maybe on a daily basis – to an ever-changing trade environment. Geopolitical conflicts have disrupted supply chains, consumptions trends, and human lives, and then economic and environmental and regulatory changes have put pressure on operators to deliver sustainable, high quality, desirable products, all while navigating increased market complexity.”
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May 7, 2025 — U.S. tariffs are putting “enormous pressure” on independent restaurants, food producers, and the entire food supply chain, according to Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) Executive Director Erika Polmar.
“Unless something changes, the entire food supply chain – from field to kitchen to table – is at risk,” she said in a recent update to the coalition’s members.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource