December 17, 2020 — With the U.S. Electoral College certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump, the country has continued the transition of power, which will culminate in the 20 January inauguration.
As the Biden administration continues to announce its cabinet picks, analysts are expecting that the country’s current stance on international trade likely won’t shift nearly as much.
December 8, 2020 — Negotiations between Britain and the European Union over a post-Brexit trade deal are complex and France will oppose any pact that “sacrifices” its fishermen, French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Tuesday.
“On fisheries there is no reason to yield to Britain’s pressure. We can make some efforts but sacrificing fisheries and fishermen, no,” Beaune told RMC radio, reiterating that France would veto any agreement it considered a “bad” deal.
Since Britain left the European Union in January, each side has urged the other to make concessions to unlock a trade deal before Britain’s transition period for leaving the bloc ends on Dec. 31.
December 8, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a one-month extension to the signup period for the Seafood Trade Relief Program.
The program is designed to support the U.S. seafood industry by offsetting some of the impacts of retaliatory tariffs implemented by foreign governments. Thanks to the extension, impacted fishermen can now sign up for the program through 15 January, 2021.
November 27, 2020 — Battered by trade wars and COVID-19, the U.S. Northwest maritime industry is applying lessons learned from both crises, according to leaders who spoke at Pacific Marine Expo’s virtual Maritime Economic Forecast.
With China as its number-one trading partner, the Northwest Seaport Alliance of Seattle and Tacoma saw immense change as a result of U.S.-China trade disputes, followed by a steep falloff in vessel traffic as COVID-19 reverberated in the world economy.
November 27, 2020 — Donald Trump positioned himself as a friend of New England’s lobster industry, campaigning hard in Maine, and even had lobsterman Jason Joyce speak at the Republican national convention.
But the president’s prolonged trade war with China resulted in a rocky few years for the industry.
Following Biden’s win in the presidential election, which saw him take three out of four electoral votes in Maine, which, along with Nebraska, has a split system, members of the industry now say they are looking forward to some much-needed stability.
Stephanie Nadeau, owner of the Lobster Company, a dealer in Arundel, Maine, said the industry needs assurance that it will be able to sell lobsters to other countries without punitive tariffs and is hopeful that such comfort will come in January following the inauguration of the Democratic president-elect.
She said of life under the Trump administration: “You can’t plan. You can’t live in chaos. The trade war, was it going to last a week, was it going to last a month, was it going to last four years? How do you operate around that?”
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.
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.