Tag Archives: Tariffs
‘Tariffs not enough’ to save U.S. shrimping industry
Alan Gibson, president of Tideland Seafood, summed up the frustration at a recent Louisiana Shrimp Task Force hearing in Houma. “Tariffs aren’t enough,” Gibson said. “The decrease in import prices is because of oversupply. They’re competing against each other to sell market share, and we’re fighting them, who are fighting each other.” Gibson called for a 25% import quota, saying it could reduce foreign competition enough to restore balance to the market. David Chauvin, a Louisiana-based seafood company owner, highlighted the disparity. Unlike tariffs, quotas directly limit the volume of imports, addressing the core issue of oversupply. By restricting imports, a quota could help stabilize domestic shrimp prices, allowing U.S. producers to compete more effectively. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 16:58
Some in seafood industry see Trump as fishermen’s friend, but tariffs could make for pricier fish
The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is likely to bring big changes for one of the oldest sectors of the U.S. economy, seafood, and some in the industry believe the returning president will be more responsive to its needs. Economic analysts paint a more complicated picture, as they fear Trump’s pending trade hostilities with major trading partners Canada and China could make an already pricy kind of protein more expensive to consumers. Conservationists also fear Trump’s emphasis on government deregulation could jeopardize fish stocks that are already in peril. But many in the commercial fishing and seafood processing industries said they are excited for Trump’s second presidency. They said they expect he’ll allow fishing in protected areas as he did in his first presidency, crack down on offshore wind expansion and cut back regulations they describe as burdensome. And they expect a marked shift from the administration of President Joe Biden, who prioritized ocean conservation and championed wind power from the start. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:26
‘A lot of anxiety’: N.L. seafood industry will see big hit if Trump follows through with tariffs
President-elect Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff threat is worrying people in Newfoundland and Labrador’s seafood industry. More than 60 per cent of the province’s seafood is sold in the United States. “There’s certainly a lot of anxiety right now in the seafood industry, and I’m no exception,” said Labrador Gem Seafoods’ president Danny Dumaresque in an interview with The Telegram on Wednesday, Nov. 27. Trump said in a social media post Monday night that on his first day in office, he would impose the tariffs until Canada and Mexico stop illegal border crossings and prevent drugs such as fentanyl from entering the U.S. “Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:57
Fishermen celebrate Trump: ‘Government has crucified this industry’
He didn’t win New Bedford, where Vice President Kamala Harris held a margin of 2,688 votes. But the city’s fishermen have dug in with their support for the president-elect. Fishermen on the New Bedford waterfront met the news of a second Trump term with vengeful enthusiasm on Wednesday morning. There was hope that the president-elect would scale back regulation, stop offshore wind development and open new fishing grounds, breaking the slump of declining revenues and ushering in a period of relative prosperity for the industry. “The government has crucified this industry,” said Ryan Turner, 47, who on Wednesday morning was preparing to leave on a scallop trip. He said this election was the first in which he had ever cast his vote. Between Harris and Trump, he said, “I didn’t like either one. I voted because we needed someone in office who is going to get rid of these windmills.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 18:17
Hyde-Smith, Cotton & Scott Introduce Bill to Ban Chinese Seafood Imports
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today joined U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in introducing legislation to ban U.S. imports of seafood and aquaculture products from China. The Ban China’s Forbidden Operations in the Oceanic Domain (Ban C-FOOD) Act would also sanction companies that import Chinese seafood and place tariffs on countries that facilitate the shipment of the seafood. “It’s past time we hold China accountable for its persistent violation of sovereign waters and its shameless use of slave labor to dominate the aquaculture market with unsafe, chemical-ridden products. more, >>click to read<< 09:01
Brexit: how it started, how it’s going
The European Parliament votes Tuesday on the EU’s divorce settlement with Britain, the 1,246-page Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The deal averted tariffs or quotas on almost all goods produced in the UK and EU. The new standards and attendant bureaucracy are having an impact on trade. UK exports of live mussels, cockles, oysters and other shellfish are no longer allowed to enter the EU. Most come from Scotland, and the industry says it is staring at collapse. Britain’s government, however, says the coronavirus pandemic has been the bigger factor affecting trade since the Brexit deal took effect. >click to read< 07:32
Shell shocked: ‘Lobster capital’ braces for Brexit
More than 80% of crabs and lobsters from East Yorkshire are sold in Europe. On a typically blustery morning on Bridlington Harbour the lobster lorry arrives from France. Live shellfish exporters in England have warned a wave of form-filling, certification and tariffs will hit the industry in 2021. “The cost of everything will rise with all the extra tariffs businesses will have to pay on goods going in both directions,” according to Jo Ackers, “We are looking at extra tariffs of 8% on lobster and 7.5% on crab with EU countries having similar import tariffs. It is the fishermen and the end of line customers that would get hit with these costs in the long term,” she said. >click to read< 20:11
How Effective Have China’s Agricultural and Seafood Tariffs Been?
There is a case that viruses (bird flu, swine fever, and now the coronavirus) have had almost as big an impact on Chinese-American agricultural trade as the trade war. (And more than most want to know on trade in crustaceans) The actual impact of the tariff though isn’t always quite as clear as many think, Take chicken feet (or chicken paws). Guess what really led to a fall in U.S. exports of chicken paws? Bird Flu. There may be a lesson there. Now consider one of the more prominent—at least judging by the press coverage—industries that has been hit by Chinese retaliatory tariffs in the recent trade war: lobster. But there are, in fact, markets other than China for U.S. lobsters, and suppliers other than the United States for China. Given the large two-way trade in lobsters between the United States and Canada,,, >click to read< 16:21
China says it has agreed with the US to cancel existing trade tariffs in phases
Gao Feng, a ministry spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry, said that both sides had agreed to simultaneously cancel some existing tariffs on one another’s goods, according to the country’s state broadcaster. The ministry spokesperson said that both sides were closer to a so-called “phase one” trade agreement following constructive negotiations over the past two weeks. >click to read< 07:09
President Trump! About our great Fishermen, our great Farmers and tariffs
President Trump, as we sit here listening to your arena chat with another strong crowd of support tonight (9-16-2019) in New Mexico, you once again brought up the nations farmers, I’d like to mention another group of outstanding, and hard working Americans, U.S. Commercial Fishermen, of whom many are your supporters that have been standing with you on the trade war. We have heard the praise of the Miners, and the Farmers, and its time for you to praise the Fishermen. >click to read< 11:31
China bought lots of Florida lobster despite tariffs. Keys fishermen paid the price
Chinese importers bought Florida spiny lobsters in what could be near-record numbers this season, despite a 25 percent tariff their government placed on U.S. seafood last July, according to the leading Florida Keys commercial fishermen’s trade group. That’s great news considering the fear commercial anglers had about the potential impact of growing U.S.-China trade hostilities on one of South Florida’s largest industries. “Going into the season, the big questions were: Will the Chinese buy? How much and at what price,” >click to read<20:25
Will La.’s shrimpers strike? ‘It’s a last resort’
Acy Cooper bought his first shrimping vessel, an old wooden flatboat, when he was 15. Cooper followed his father and grandfather before him into the rich gumbo Gulf of Mexico waters from the fishing community of Venice on the coast of southern Louisiana. Today Cooper and his two sons and son-in-law operate two Laffite skiffs — one 35-footer and one 30-footer — docked in the same community for another generation. But although many American business owners are bracing for potential negative impacts of a trade war triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Cooper and his fellow shrimpers are pleading for such protections as foreign producers dump shrimp in the U.S. and cratering prices in the process. >click to read<18:51
Florida lobster fishermen testy on trade
Just as they prepare for a crucial harvest in the wake of Hurricane Irma, lobster fishermen in the Florida Keys fear a trade war with China could undermine storm recovery in the island chain. Florida’s nearly eight-month commercial spiny lobster fishing season opens Monday. Keys fishermen had hoped the harvest would help them recoup losses from last September’s hurricane, which made landfall in the Keys with 130 mph winds.,, “Hopefully the tariffs will get figured out because you can’t run your boat and not make money, especially after a hurricane year when you’ve lost so much,” Piton said in a recent interview outside his Key Largo home, where he docks his boat, “Risky Business II.” >click to read<12:49
La. shrimp industry representatives welcome Trump tariffs, Other U.S. seafood interests oppose
Louisiana shrimp industry representatives welcomed the Trump administration’s announcement today that it will impose tariffs on Chinese seafood imports. Members of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, meeting in Houma, said they are considering a push for similar 10 percent tariffs on other top countries that send shrimp to the U.S., including India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Shrimpers in Terrebonne, Lafourche and across the U.S. coast have long complained that a wave of cheaper, mostly farm-raised imports has made it difficult for domestic shrimp fishermen to compete. About 90 percent of shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported. >click to read<09:01
Florida Keys fishermen talk impact of President Trump’s tariffs
Jeff Cramer is a longtime Keys commercial fisherman who operates a fish house in Marathon. He buys lobster from as many as 20 different boat captains and then sells them all to his Chinese buyer. “I’m just hoping our president can resolve this little trade war he’s got going with Europe and China. A lot of us voted for him and maybe this will work out in the long run, but for the short term, it’s really going to devastate us after we had that hurricane last year. A lot of guys are living off the SBA loans that they have to start paying back in a little bit,” Cramer said. “Let’s see what happens. He got Rocket Man to back down, let’s see if he can get the Chinese president to back down,” Cramer added. Gary Nichols also voted for Trump and is standing by him. >click to read<11:44
China’s fish
The national seafood media was Monday atwitter with speculation China might impose tariffs on American seafood, and Alaska Commissioner of Commerce Mike Navarre was trying to spin the state’s proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) project as some sort of shelter against a looming U.S.-China trade war. “For now, China appears to be leaving Alaska seafood alone,” added reporter Liz Raines. There was no “appears” about it.,, Why? Because China – sometimes with the help of North Korean serfs – has turned Alaska fish into a moneymaker for China. >click to read< 14:16
Christmas tail: Europe deal could slow yuletide lobster biz
A trade deal between Canada and the European Union could amount to a lump of coal for the U.S. at Christmastime. The Christmas season is typically a busy time of year for American seafood exporters, as the type of lobster that is native to North America is popular in some European countries around the holiday. But Canada and the EU brokered a deal this year that gets rid of tariffs on Canadian lobster exports to the 28-nation bloc. Canada, the world’s other major lobstering nation, is now at an economic advantage over the U.S. Members of the U.S. lobster industry, which is based in New England, said exports to Europe have been pretty typical this year, but they’re worried about the future. click here to read the story 11:10
CETA: Canada-European Union pact worries US lobster industry
Members of the U.S. seafood industry are fearful that Canada’s approval of a new trade deal with the European Union will cause big problems for the American lobster business, just as the catch is hitting historic highs. The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, or CETA, cleared its final hurdle in the Parliament of Canada on Tuesday. The deal gets rid of tariffs on Canadian lobster exports to the 28-nation bloc, putting Canada at a huge advantage over the U.S. click here to read the story 11:06
