For American seafood producers committed to growing/harvesting and processing seafood in the United States, the country’s trading relationship with China has meant very different things. For American seafood producers forced to compete for sales with farmed Chinese seafood, Chinese fish harvested through illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and/or processed by China’s heavily subsidized seafood processing sector, greater trade with China has been devastating. At the same time, several sectors of the American seafood industry have developed a lucrative market by exporting high-quality, sustainable fishery products to the Chinese market.
These differences amongst domestic seafood producers have historically been exploited by U.S. importers through claims that restrictions on unsafe, unethically-sourced Chinese seafood in the U.S. market harms American fishermen and aquaculture producers. U.S. seafood importers assert that Chinese seafood must be given unfettered access to our market in order to facilitate sales of American seafood into China. But a July roundtable hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, International Trade Roundtable – July 22, 2026, laid the groundwork for a different approach. At the roundtable, representatives of American seafood producers, including the Southern Shrimp Alliance, discussed the harms caused by declining sales of American seafood in the Chinese market as well as the presence of Chinese seafood in the U.S. market.
On Monday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the U.S.-China Board of Trade’s recommendations. These recommendations are part of an effort to identify non-sensitive goods with an annual import value of $30 billion that could qualify for improved trade treatment. The U.S.-China Board of Trade’s recommendations identified a large number of American seafood products as non-sensitive goods imported by China that would be subject to further consideration for favorable tariff treatment, while omitting any Chinese seafood products imported into the United States from further consideration.
This outcome, heralded by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a “win” for American small businesses, establishes that issues related to our trade with China can be addressed to reflect the very different circumstances in which seafood is produced in the United States versus China.
Beyond the deeply concerning issues of forced labor, IUU fishing, abuse of banned antibiotics, and heavy government subsidization, the Southern Shrimp Alliance observed in a letter to the USTR earlier this year that U.S. seafood importers are inappropriately undervaluing Chinese seafood products shipped to the United States in order to avoid the payment of millions of dollars in duties to the U.S. Treasury. Citing examples of imports of Chinese tilapia fillets, catfish fillets, and cooked crawfish tail meat – cumulatively accounting for over 22 percent of the total value of Chinese seafood imports in 2025 – the Southern Shrimp Alliance estimated that importers evaded over $18 million in additional ad valorem duty payments by substantially reducing the reported per pound value for these goods. In light of this egregious violation of U.S. law, the Southern Shrimp Alliance noted its adamant opposition to designating any Chinese seafood a “non-sensitive” good.
In stark contrast, no similar issues are presented by U.S. seafood exported to China.
“The U.S. shrimp industry is grateful for the leadership of President Trump and Ambassador Greer in developing a path forward for trade with China that benefits all American seafood producers,” said Blake Price, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Through the actions of the USTR and agencies like the Small Business Administration, this Administration has welcomed the voices of American fishermen in the development of a sane, commonsense trade policy that puts Americans first.”