After U.S. President Donald Trump instituted new rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods starting early this year, Chinese customs authorities in the east coast city of Taizhou – a key seafood export hub – have pivoted to help local seafood firms increase their exports to Southeast Asia, the E.U., and the Middle East.
Though the trade war between the U.S. and China has temporarily cooled off, customs authorities made the move in order to help exporters diversify their buyer portfolios and combat future trade uncertainty.
Frozen mackerel exporter Taizhou Xingyi Aquatic is one such company that has benefited from the new initiative, telling the China News agency that customs had provided consultants to advise the company on registering for and complying with export requirements in the Middle East.
Farther south, Chinese customs authorities have also been busy carrying out a similar initiative in Dongshan, a seafood-processing hub in the province of Fujian.
Fish-processing firm Fujian Renxing Industrial told Minan News that it had been assisted by local customs officials in registering for exports to Slovenia. A spokesperson for the firm said Renxing would “test the water” in the E.U. by sending small shipments to new customers there.
Customs data suggests that the plan is working, and that the diversification of export markets is likely to ensure many of China’s seafood sectors survive any U.S. trade disruptions.
Recent Fujian Customs data found that 72 percent of the province's CNY 5.1 billion (USD 714 million, EUR 612 million) seafood exports over the first two months of 2025 went to Asian countries. Exports to Latin America rose by 23 percent in the period, while exports to Oceania rose by 25 percent year over year.
The assistance from customs authorities have been a boon for some, but other sectors of the Chinese seafood industry are likely to suffer heavily if the trade war with the U.S. continues.
For example, the Chinese tilapia industry – which is already facing other issues domestically such as recovering from a 2024 typhoon and new emissions regulations – has already lost some U.S. buyers.
“[U.S. buyers] do not want to pass along the tariff increases to their customers. They are looking for new suppliers for tilapia outside of China,” a tilapia processor in Southern China who requested to remain anonymous told SeafoodSource in April. “While it's possible to export to the U.S. despite the additional tax, I expect China tilapia sales to significantly drop in the U.S. Tilapia is likely to become insignificant in the U.S. seafood market.”
Chinese processors of breaded shrimp products once relied heavily on the U.S. market and suffered after U.S. President Donald Trump implemented tariffs during his first term that cut output from factories producing these goods by more than half. It has struggled to pivot ever since.
Many in the global seafood industry are not convinced that recent negotiations between the U.S. and China signal a lasting solution.
“I suppose it’s welcome news, but we still know that we have an unsolved problem. At any moment, the government could come down and hit us like whack-a-mole again,” Arctic Fisheries President Michael Kotok told SeafoodSource.
