The Oregon Trawl Commission (OTC) and the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) have joined together to call for Section 301 investigations on imported farmed seafood from China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
The OTC announced it has formally requested the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to begin the investigation, with a specific focus on the use of unapproved antibiotics and veterinary drugs present in imported seafood from the four countries. OTC said it wants the USTR to investigate the presence of the drugs in the context of them providing an unfair advantage for the products, putting downward pressure on U.S. seafood producers who have to meet stricter safety standards.
“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.”
The SSA has regularly analyzed U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) product refusals, with a focus on foreign shrimp banned for the use of antibiotics. Through its work, the alliance identified that FDA refusals of imported farmed shrimp for banned antibiotics hit the highest level in eight years in 2024.
“For over 20 years, the U.S. shrimp industry has catalogued the continued use of banned antibiotics in foreign shrimp aquaculture,” SSA Executive Director John Williams said. “Now, those industries that routinely abuse veterinary drugs dominate our market and are pushing American fishermen and farmers out of business. This is an unfair trade practice that must end, and we are proud to join with other U.S. seafood industries in this call to action.”
The SSA has successfully called for trade action in the past.
The organization pushed for antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam in 2023, which ultimately resulted in the announcement of new antidumping and countervailing duties.
The OTC said the use of antibiotic drugs like chloramphenicol and nitrofurans is largely unapproved for use in the U.S. due to the potential to cause antimicrobial resistance and because, in some cases, they are a known carcinogen.
“Despite the recognized health concerns with the use and consumption of these unapproved drugs in aquaculture production, farmed seafood that violates U.S. standards continues to be imported into the U.S. at an alarming rate,” the OTC said.
The SSA also cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness,” as an indication it was government policy to protect domestic seafood producers, as it specifically called on the USTR to investigate relevant trade practices of major seafood producers.
“The use of banned antibiotics in foreign aquaculture is an unfair trade practice that has significantly impacted the U.S. market, both by encouraging the importation of cheap, contaminated foreign seafood and by putting American commercial seafood producers out of business,” the SSA said.
The alliance said the four countries it is targeting account for one-third of the value of U.S. seafood imports but 77 percent of seafood entry refusals due to the presence of unapproved drugs.
OTC said because those countries use unapproved drugs, their farms are able to produce more seafood and outcompete the domestic market. Oregon groundfish and coldwater pink shrimp fishermen have faced declines in prices, resulting in lower revenue and the loss of jobs, it said.
“The petition highlights the urgent need for trade enforcement to restore fair competition and to protect public health,” the OTC said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently agreed to award nearly USD 16 million (EUR 13.7 million) in contracts for Oregon pink shrimp after state officials argued an above-average harvest of the species, coupled with the cancelation of pink shrimp tariffs due to uncertainty around U.S. tariffs, created what officials said is a crisis in the fishery.
