Keith Lusher 02.27.25
For years, Louisiana’s fishermen have watched foreign seafood flood our markets at rock-bottom prices. Now, that might finally change. Congressman Clay Higgins is pushing to “Make American Seafood Great Again” by asking President Trump to slap tariffs of up to 100% on imported shrimp and crawfish from China, Vietnam, and other countries.
As someone who’s watched our local seafood industry struggle against cheap imports, I can tell you this move is long overdue. Our commercial fishermen are fighting an uphill battle against foreign seafood that’s often sold for less than what it costs them to fuel up a shrimp boat.
The numbers don’t lie. Louisiana shrimpers saw their catch value drop from $130.6 million in 2021 to just $60.2 million in 2023. That’s money taken straight out of U.S. fishermen’s pockets. Across the Gulf Coast, it’s the same story – the total value of U.S. shrimp hauls fell from $521.8 million to $268.7 million in those same years.
Want to know how bad it’s gotten? At this year’s Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, DNA testing showed four out of five vendors were actually serving foreign shrimp – not the local catch customers thought they were buying.
It gets worse. While other countries like those in the European Union check about half of their imported seafood for safety, the U.S. only inspects about 2%. The USDA says imported seafood has failed more safety tests than any other food in the last 20 years.
“Our shrimpers and fishermen are getting crushed by foreign seafood that’s heavily subsidized and dumped into our markets,” Higgins wrote to Trump. He’s asking for strict tariffs and tougher testing of imported seafood to level the playing field.
The timing couldn’t be more critical. Louisiana’s seafood industry is already hurting from last year’s drought that hit crawfish production hard. “Many of our people can’t even get new crop loans because they couldn’t pay off last year’s loans,” says Mike Strain, Louisiana’s Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner.
The Louisiana Shrimp Association is backing Higgins’ push for tariffs. They say the flood of cheap imports isn’t just hurting our fishermen – it’s threatening our whole way of life on the Gulf Coast.
For those of us who care about supporting local fishermen and keeping Louisiana’s seafood industry alive, these tariffs could be a game-changer. It’s about time we protected our own and made American seafood great again.
To view the entire letter to the White House from Clay Higgins click here.
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