Antwerp, Belgium-based food-processing machinery firm Steen said that recent trade disruptions stemming from U.S. tariffs have caused some of their American buyers to hold off on new deals.
“After the tariffs were announced, some people who [verbally] committed to buying from us said they were, instead, going to hold off and see how things play out,” Steen International Sales Manager Laurenz Seesing told SeafoodSource at the 2025 Seafood Expo Global. “I think we can expect a latency or a delay rather than full cancellations because, eventually, companies will need to buy machinery, and most of the [processing machinery] stuff is produced in Europe.”
The standstill comes as Steen had spent the past few years attempting to expand in the U.S., with those plans including hiring a liaison in the country to connect with possible buyers.
“We have been trying to expand in the U.S. for the past few years, but that’s a little bit tricky at the moment,” Seesing said. “The advantage is that everybody is having the same issues; we all need to go through it.”
The expansion plan also included heaps of market research and then tailoring the sales pitch for its skinning, descaling, spearing, and other machines to specific U.S. customer needs. For example, Seesing said Steen’s deep-skinning machine can skin a fillet to the preferences of regional consumers, which is especially important for U.S. buyers selling to diverse regions in the country.
“Some American consumers don’t like the white color on a fish fillet, so with our deep-skinning machine, you can adjust the blade easily,” he said. “On the East and West coasts of the U.S., they typically like the white on the fillets, which is a little more like the European style, but in the middle of the country, they want the white off. So, processors can accommodate their customers all over the country with our machines.”
Though Steen faces increased obstacles selling to the U.S., the company will continue to try to make inroads there, hoping the trade tensions cool off enough to make gains again soon.
“We have a proverb in our country that translates to: A dish is never eaten as warm as it is served,” Regional Sales Manager Tom Leuridan said. "We will have to wait and see."
Already, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed tariffs in some areas and struck trade deals with such nations as the U.K. and China, with the latter deal dropping U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods by over 100 percent.
