China-based seafood traders and processors said they are frustrated with recent escalations in a trade war between the U.S. and China, which saw U.S. President Donald Trump raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 percent hours after China boosted the duty on American goods to 84 percent.
Beiyang Jiamei Seafood Co CEO Peng Song, which operates the Seamix Seafood brand, said his company is “experiencing a hard time” due to tariffs.
“Already we have paid an extra 25-percent tariff on seafood imported from Canada, and now the new tariffs between the U.S. and China make the trade even more difficult,” Song told SeafoodSource.
Seamix had focused on distributing premium imported seafood through high end retail outlets, but now has to determine new sources due to the high duty rates.
“There is simply no way to import seafood from the U.S. and sell into the local market here,” Song said.
Beijing Jiamei’s re-processing business for U.S. export has also been impacted, he added.
“The new tariffs greatly increased the cost for U.S. customers and it’s difficult to say how long it will take, but if this situation lasts long the business will be killed," Song said.
Given the rapid shifts in tariffs in just a matter of a week, Song said he is waiting to see if or how the U.S. might calculate tariffs only on those value-added parts if the raw material comes from the United States. Customs and Border Protection guidance appears to give U.S.-origin raw material a break on tariffs, which would be a boon for reprocessing businesses.
“We cross our fingers and exercise a bit of patience,” he said.
East China Seas CEO Didier Boon said the tariff fight will shift what Chinese companies end up producing. East China Seas has been a long-time supplier of clients in North and Latin America, and expects aquaculture producers will drop species that are popular in those markets in favor of products that work in the domestic Chinese market.
“Obviously in the meantime, a few factories will go bankrupt,” he told SeafoodSource.
China has taken a fresh complaint about the U.S.’s trade action to the World Trade Organization, claiming the new tariff measures breach the U.S.'s obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, the Agreement on Customs Valuation, and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
