The US National Fisheries Institute (NFI) predicts that by the end of 2023, the Biden administration is on track to resolve most, if not all, of the Chinese seafood trade tariffs.

Recently, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) decided to implement 301 tariff exemptions for more than a dozen seafood products before September 30, 2023, involving haddock, Alaska flounder, king crab, snow crab, Dungeness crab and other species . Although Chinese-origin tilapia, squid, shrimp, eel, catfish, swimming crab, crayfish and other commodities are not included in the exemption list, NFI said that the turning point of the Sino-US trade war may be in sight, because the United States is about to This four-year tariff undergoes a necessity review.

Robert DeHaan, NFI's vice president of government affairs and general counsel, told UCN that those products that have received tariff exemption extensions are an important signal. In March 2022, the United States will implement tariff exemptions for Alaska flounder, haddock, crab and other products for the first time. The total value may have exceeded $300 million, and the tariff exemption on these goods is now extended until September 30, 2023.

"The most desired opportunity for tariff relief in the U.S. seafood industry may not be a solution to the trade war itself, but rather the upcoming four-year 'Mandatory Necessity Review', which units are due to comment on by Jan. 17 and which USTR will Further deliberations over the next few months," DeHaan said.

"We do hold out hope, and that's our bottom line," DeHaan said. "USTR made it clear in the necessity review that it will consider removing some of the tariffs, and that will be a real phase-out of groups of tariffs, or individual tariffs."

DeHaan continued: "So that gives us a lot of hope that at the end of the necessity review, hopefully before the current exemption from the tariffs expires next September, they'll make a new decision, in a big way. Remove more seafood from the tariff list.

DeHaan said: "I believe that the Biden administration has taken the dispute with China very seriously from the beginning, because the two countries have the most important economic relationship in the world. The seafood trade dispute is mainly because it affects many low-income Americans. Families. The trade war has also led to a significant loss of market share and access for U.S. exporters in the world’s largest market.”