FOX Enterprise’ Lydia Hu goes aboard a Mississippi shrimping operation to talk with Bosarge Boats COO Leann Bosarge about how tariffs can increase the business.
American shrimpers had been happy to see President Donald Trump unveil his newest spherical of tariffs this week.
The president on Wednesday introduced plans for brand spanking new tariffs on items imported from overseas international locations. The brand new measures embrace a baseline levy of 10% on overseas imports and “individualized reciprocal higher” tariffs on sure international locations, the White Home stated.
Leann Bosarge, the COO of Bosarge Boats, advised FOX Enterprise’ Lydia Hu on Friday that the tariffs “threw us a lifeline” within the struggling home shrimp business.
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“The U.S. domestic shrimp industry has been on a downward trajectory for decades now as a direct result of the unfair trade in the overseas aquaculture industry for growing shrimp overseas,” Bosarge stated. “And these tariffs threw us a lifeline that we needed to hopefully live to fight another day in our industry in this country.”
The home shrimp business within the Gulf and South Atlantic has seen the worth of the shrimp it catches drop considerably, with NOAA Fisheries information exhibiting it has gone from $522 million in 2021 to $269 million in 2023, based on the Southern Shrimp Alliance, a commerce group representing shrimp fishermen, processors and different stakeholders from eight states.
Business fishing and shrimp boats are seen docked at Bayou Caddy Fisheries in a wetlands space alongside the Gulf of Mexico at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. (Ron Buskirk/UCG/Common Pictures Group through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
Hu reported shrimpers consider the tariffs will assist degree the taking part in discipline with the overseas shrimp business.
Imports make up 94% of shrimp eaten within the U.S., with international locations akin to India, Ecuador, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Argentina among the many high sources of the imported shrimp, per the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
The group has stated subsidies, compelled labor and different elements have made shrimp manufacturing in overseas international locations cheaper, hurting the American shrimp business.
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Hu reported Borsage was “getting paid prices for shrimp that she got paid back in the 1980s and, of course, she’s dealing with 2025 prices of doing business.”
The brand new tariffs “are expected to slow imports and prevent Americans from becoming completely dependent on foreign shrimp producers while the administration addresses harmful trade policies and enforcement deficiencies,” based on the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Southern Shrimp Alliance Govt Director John Williams stated in a Wednesday assertion that the group was “grateful for the Trump Administration’s actions,” saying the tariffs will “preserve American jobs, food security, and our commitment to ethical production.”
The brand new import tariffs are slated to return into pressure quickly, with the White Home saying the ten% baseline levy will hit on April 5 and the reciprocal tariffs anticipated on April 9.
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Whereas unveiling the tariffs on Wednesday, Trump stated it was “one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history,” calling it the U.S.’ “declaration of economic independence.”
President Donald Trump holds up a chart of “reciprocal tariffs” whereas talking throughout a “Make America Wealthy Again” commerce announcement occasion within the Rose Backyard on the White Home in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The president has moved to place different tariffs in place since taking workplace. For example, in mid-March, he carried out a 25% levy on imported metal and aluminum.
