“We are very pleased that President Donald Trump has taken major action today to strengthen US trade enforcement,” said Dr. David Veal, executive director of the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) on March 31. “Making it harder for foreign companies to evade legally required duties helps to level the playing field for US companies like ASPA members against unfair foreign competitors.”
Veal was referring to two executive orders signed by Trump that are designed to tackle controversial trade practices that add to the USA’s monumental trade deficit, among them uncollected duties.
According to Peter Navarro, director of the National Trade Council, as much as $2.8 billion in import taxes imposed against violators of US anti-dumping laws have gone uncollected since 2001.
“For imported shrimp and many other imported products covered by orders, there have been problems with importers disappearing or not paying duties found owed. Under this order, Customs and Border Protection will have 90 days to devise a plan to protect the revenue where importers pose risks by requiring additional bonding or other security,” said Eddy Hayes, legal counselor for Biloxi, Mississippi-based ASPA. “Ensuring that high risk importers cannot import dumped or subsidized imports and then escape liability for duties owed is an important step towards improving the effectiveness of US trade remedies.”
“In an industry like shrimp, where small, family-owned American businesses have to compete with large volumes of unfairly traded imports, foreign duty evasion is a perennial and widespread problem,” commented Dr. Veal. “When this order is implemented, duty collection should immediately improve.”
The American Shrimp Processors Association was formed in 1964 to represent and promote the interests of the wild-caught, warm water shrimp processing industry along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Its members from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida work together as a collective voice of the industry promoting the interests of shrimp processors, other segments of the domestic wild-caught shrimp business and the general public.
