The Trump administration’s trade war with China has resulted a 36 percent drop in the United States’ seafood sales.
Beijing’s imposition of a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on American imports has resulted in the drop from USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.16 billion) in the year preceding the tariff to USD 969 million (EUR 866 million) in the year after the tariff was put into effect.
Before the tariffs, China purchased just over half of Alaska’s exported seafood, a sales total valued at around USD 1 billion (EUR 893 million).
Although pink and chum salmon sent to China were exempt from the tariffs, before they hit, the United States was China’s second-biggest seafood supplier. Since the tariffs were put into effect, the U.S. has moved to fourth place behind Russia, Ecuador, and Canada.
Last year, China imported USD 136 million (EUR 122 million) worth of Pacific salmon, down 56 percent from the year before. China imported USD 91 million (EUR 81 million) worth of cod from the United States, down 37 percent from the previous year.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told the Anchorage Daily News that he believed tariffs were the biggest threat to American seafood exports.
“In talking with processors, they are uncertain as to the economic viability of delivering their products and getting them onto the shelves of their consumers,” he said. “When I took this job, I understood how we managed our fisheries, but I didn’t really have a good appreciation of that dance between how we manage our fisheries in the context of the global economy and world markets.”
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