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 …
