Saving Seafood

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

US trade court invalidates Trump’s tariffs; appeals court stays order

May 30, 2025 — The U.S. Court of International Trade has ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempts to unilaterally raise tariffs are “invalid and cannot be implemented,” throwing the president’s ongoing trade negotiations into uncertainty.

However, the U.S. Department of Justice quickly appealed the ruling, and on 29 May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit temporarily stayed the trade court’s ruling while it considers motions from both sides.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

EU open to extending lobster deal in package on Trump tariffs, FT reports

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.

Read the full article at Reuters

US retailers, seafood restaurants raising prices, rearranging menus due to tariffs

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

“A lesser-of-two-evils scenario” – Trade law experts respond to US-China tariff pause

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.” 

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: How tariffs are affecting Oregon’s seafood industry

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.

Listen to the full interview at OPB

Imports likely to spike amid pause in US-China tariffs; Suez Canal Authority tries to entice shippers back to Red Sea transit

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource