Everyone out there is familiar with the old mariner’s proverb “red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”
Well, given the current and ever-changing geo-political climate, the metaphorical crimson sky we all find over our heads is not leaving us anytime soon.
As the Canadian seafood industry continues to grapple with the economic uncertainty created by the on-again, off-again, on-again tariff threats from the White House, stakeholders are now facing a 25 per cent seafood tariff from China — that came into effect March 20. The Chinese government claims this tariff is a retaliatory response to the 2024 Canadian surtax of 100 per cent on all Chinese-made electric vehicles and of 25 per cent on steel and aluminum. There is probably some truth to that, but it probably has more to do with China lashing out wherever it can in response to being caught up in President Trump’s unprecedented, global tariff tirade.
As Canadian officials scramble or scratch their collective heads on how to deal with or combat this barrage of tariffs, how is this whole trade nightmare being viewed by our fishing brethren just south of the border?
There has been much talk of late on how the North American auto industry is integrated across all three countries. Auto parts often move from one country to the next and the next and back again. And the seafood industry is not dissimilar.
Eastern Canada ships the majority of its seafood to the U.S., but there is also product moving north as well. For example, Maine ships hundreds of millions of dollars of lobster to Canada for processing and then is either shipped back to the U.S. or to other markets.
Trump’s tariffs, combined with Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, could cripple a Maine industry already facing challenges.
Lobstermen in Maine are worried the trade war could significantly reduce the price they get for their catches. This comes at a time when fishermen there are already catching fewer lobsters. Maine’s lobster harvest was down 10 million pounds in 2024 over the previous year, due in part to a smaller stock.
Maine lobster industry advocates are worried that this gathering perfect storm of reduced catches and lower prices could drive hundreds of harvesters out of business. And many feel that their voices are not being heard in Washington.
And on top of the price worries, fishermen along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard are also concerned that the recent staffing cuts at one of President Trump’s much-publicized targets, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will negatively impact the critical stock assessments that the state’s fisheries rely on. Not to mention impacts on marine weather forecasting — another important role of NOAA.
While the Canadian seafood industry stakeholders attempt to come up with some semblance of a plan to combat the looming U.S. tariffs, as well as the latest hit from China, they can take some solace that their colleagues in the Gulf of Maine and south are being hit by the same threats. This entire, completely unnecessary mess is nothing but a lose-lose scenario for the fishing industries on both sides of the border. Despite the grandiose thoughts of some, no good can or will come out of this.
