Alaska fishermen worry Trump tariffs will be ‘devastating’ to seafood industry

Alaska fishermen are worried President Trump’s tariffs will be “devastating” to the seafood industry, according to a new Reuters report.

Fishermen in Alaska told Reuters that retaliatory tariffs from Beijing are hurting their industry, as China is the state’s top export market for seafood. China last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on seafood from the Pacific Northwest, Reuters reported.

“This isn’t an easily replaced market,” Frances Leach, the executive director of Alaska’s largest commercial fishing trade group, told Reuters. “What’s going to happen is China is just going to stop buying Alaska fish.”

{mosads}Alaskan fishermen are one group of many that have been hit hard by Trump’s billions of dollars in tariffs against China and other countries including Canada and Mexico. Many farmers and manufacturers in the U.S. have reported significant layoffs and financial losses due to harsh retaliatory tariffs from nations reacting to Trump’s trade policies.

Trump recently proposed $12 billion in aid for farmers who have been negatively affected by his tariffs, and Alaskan lawmakers have stated he should consider the same for Alaska’s fishing industry. 

“The administration’s announcement of $12 billion in aid is an admission that tariffs are hurting, not helping, our country,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said last month. “Yet, farmers are hardly the only ones caught in the crossfire — so, too, are our fishermen, the energy industry, and many others.”

Trump has slapped $34 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods and plans to implement $16 billion more on Aug. 23. China, the world’s second-largest economy, has vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs of the same amount on U.S. products.