A pair of U.S. lawmakers have asked U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Jamieson Greer to launch a Section 301 investigation into unfair trade practices that are harming America’s seafood industry.
“We encourage the USTR to pursue a seafood-specific Section 301 investigation that examines all unfair acts, policies, and practices across the full seafood supply chain from countries including but not limited to Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam, ” U.S. Representative Troy Carter (D-Louisiana) and U.S. Representative Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) said in the 11 May letter.
Several seafood organizations have expressed support for the letter, including Catfish Farmers of America, Southern Shrimp Alliance, California Sea Urchin Commission, North American Marine Alliance, Oregon Trawl Commission, Hawaii Longline Association, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, North Carolina Fisheries Association, California Pelagic Fisheries Association, Fishing Communities Coalition, Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, Alabama Farmers Federation, and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation.
“The U.S. shrimp industry is grateful to Congressmen Clay Higgins and Troy Carter for spearheading a Congressional request to the United States Trade Representative to launch a Section 301 investigation – one that can comprehensively address the unfair acts, policies, and practices harming American seafood producers,” Southern Shrimp Alliance Director Blake Price said in a release. “We ask the Trump administration to seize this opportunity to address unfair trade practices, eliminate unsafe imports, and level the longstanding unfair playing field for American producers.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court striking down U.S. President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to unilaterally enact tariffs, the administration signaled its intention to use Section 301 investigations as a new tool to carry out Trump’s trade agenda. Greer put out a statement shortly after the ruling declaring his intent to “initiate several investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to deal with unjustifiable, unreasonable, discriminatory, and burdensome acts, policies, and practices by many trading partners.”
USTR subsequently launched investigations against 16 countries with major ramifications for their seafood trade with the U.S. The administration held hearings on those investigations in early May.
In their joint letter, Higgins and Carter asked the USTR to go further and “initiate a broad Section 301 investigation into unfair acts, policies, and practices affecting trade in seafood and seafood products” that goes beyond fishing subsidies and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The lawmakers urged the administration to also consider “false labeling and species designations, the abuse of banned antibiotics and fungicides in aquaculture, export and production subsidies, environmental harm, structural excess capacity, labor abuses, and permissive standards with respect to gear usage” in conducting an investigation.
“Absent meaningful action, our dependence on foreign sources of supply for this essential source of protein will continue to increase as American fishermen, U.S. aquaculture producers, and seafood processors are forced out of business, undermining the economic viability of domestic seafood production and threatening the long-term stability of rural communities both on the coast and in the interior of the nation that depend on this industry,” the lawmakers said.
A total of 18 additional members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed onto the letter.
Last year, the Oregon Trawl Commission (OTC) and the Southern Shrimp Alliance requested Section 301 investigations into farmed seafood imported from China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam with a focus on unapproved antibiotics and veterinary drugs.
“For Oregon seafood producers like those represented by the OTC, this kind of relief is essential,” OTC Director Yelena Nowak said. “It’s about leveling the playing field for domestic, sustainable fisheries by stabilizing prices and preserving a viable domestic seafood sector that has existed in Oregon for generations. It’s also about protecting American consumers and ensuring only high-quality seafood is sold in the U.S.”
