A proposed US plan to impose 10 or 25% tariffs against US$200bn of goods sourced annually from China will "harm American workers in multiple ways," claims the National Fisheries Institute (NFI).
NFI opposes the inclusion of any seafood items included in USTR’s (Office of the United States Trade Representative) July proposal said it urges the Administration to find another, more effective means of disciplining the PRC (People's Republic of China) for the violations documented in USTR’s March 'Section 301' Report into China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation. It stressed the violations are nothing to do with fishing.
"The policy will harm American workers in multiple ways," said NFI. "First, a substantial amount of the nation’s domestic catch is processed in China and then shipped back to the U.S. USTR’s proposal will punish American fishermen and the communities that rely on them by making their products more expensive for American families to eat."
It added that of the US$2.7bn in annual seafood shipments subject to this proposal, an estimated US$950m comes from an American fisherman harvesting in US waters in a US-flag vessel using a US crew and "punishing" these fisherman and the businesses they work with will not help USTR's aim to reform China's practises outlined in the report.
Harm to workers
The proposal also harms workers as taxing these businesses for utilising cost minimising global sourcing will cost American jobs, while many companies will have to spend money and time finding alternative business deals in other countries.
Modifying the supply chain could be complex and expensive and "will be impossible" for small and medium-sized seafood businesses on the Administration’s likely timeline, NFI said.
Even in cases where a ready substitute may exist, the end result will be restricted supply, narrowed choices, and higher consumer prices.
US seafood exporters face debilitating tariffs of 25%, 35% and even 45% on their shipments to China – as China has been unilaterally reducing duties on these and other seafood products in order to spur additional domestic supply, NFI pointed out.
USTR’s proposal will invite yet further Chinese retaliation against US seafood exporters and will make American fishermen uncompetitive in their own country, NFI emphasised.
