Tariffs launched by President Donald Trump this previous week have been praised by U.S. seafood harvesters who say the president “threw us a lifeline” within the nation’s struggling home shrimp business.
“The U.S. home shrimp business has been on a downward trajectory for many years now as a direct results of the unfair commerce within the abroad aquaculture business for rising shrimp abroad,” Leann Borsarge, the COO of Bosarge Boats, advised Fox Enterprise on Friday.
“And these tariffs threw us a lifeline that we would have liked to hopefully dwell to struggle one other day in our business on this nation,” Borsarge added.
On Wednesday, President Trump introduced a baseline levy of 10 p.c on imports from international nations and “individualized reciprocal increased” tariffs on sure nations, which shrimp harvesters consider will assist them compete in opposition to the international shrimp business.
A staggering 94 p.c of shrimp eaten in america is reportedly imported from international nations — usually India, Ecuador, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Argentina.
Over time, the Unites States’ home shrimp business has skilled a big drop within the worth of its seafood, with information exhibiting shrimp having fallen from $522 million in 2021 to $269 million in 2023.
The U.S. commerce group Southern Shrimp Alliance, in the meantime, has mentioned that subsidies and compelled labor, amongst different components, have resulted in shrimp manufacturing in international nations to turn out to be cheaper, harming the American shrimp business.
However President Trump’s new tariffs “are anticipated to gradual imports and forestall People from turning into fully depending on international shrimp producers whereas the administration addresses dangerous commerce insurance policies and enforcement deficiencies,” the commerce group mentioned.
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