President Trump signed an Executive Order on April 17, 2025, entitled "Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness," in which he announced an "America First Seafood Strategy." The Secretary of Commerce is thereby directed to take steps toward addressing America's $20 billion seafood trade deficit and opportunities are established for further public engagement.
A Wide-Ranging Review
Stating that "nearly 90 percent of seafood" in the United States is imported and characterizing the American seafood market as disadvantaged by overregulation and unfair trade practices, the President announced several initiatives, including:
- Within 30 days. The Secretary of Commerce will consider suspending, revising, or rescinding regulations that burden America's commercial fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing industries, with a focus on the most heavily regulated fisheries requiring action.
- Within 60 days. The Secretary of Commerce, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), and the Interagency Seafood Trade Task Force will assess seafood competitiveness issues and jointly develop a comprehensive seafood trade strategy, which will require USTR to examine the relevant trade practices of major seafood-producing nations, including with regard to the use of forced labor in the seafood supply chain, and consider appropriate solutions, such as negotiations or trade enforcement authorities.
- Within 180 days. The Secretary of Commerce will require the Regional Fishery Management Councils to provide updates and recommendations for implementation.
Engagement & Enforcement
In addition to these actions, the Executive Order also sets the stage for private sector engagement. The President tasks the Secretary of Commerce with soliciting public comment on how to improve fisheries management and science within the Magnuson-Stevens Act. In addition, the Secretaries of Commerce and of Agriculture are also broadly tasked with developing and implementing an "America First Seafood Strategy" to promote production, marketing, sale, and export of U.S. fishery and aquaculture products and strengthen domestic processing capacity. This process may also involve opportunities for public comment.
The Executive Order also prescribes enforcement initiatives, tasking the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with other relevant agencies, to immediately consider improving the Seafood Import Monitoring Program to target high-risk shipments from nations that routinely violate international fisheries regulations. The President also instructed the Secretary of Commerce to develop options for deploying improved technology to identify foreign fisheries-related violations.
This Executive Order broadly applies to trade in seafood and requires significant private sector engagement. This encompasses the Administration's specific requests for public comment on improving fisheries management, as well as broader initiatives to address seafood regulation and international trade enforcement.
Interested Parties May Consider Engaging
The Executive Order signals a policy shift, and interested parties may consider engaging as the Administration further develops its fisheries and seafood policies. The trade attorneys, economists, and compliance specialists of Cassidy Levy Kent have a deep familiarity with U.S. trade policy, including, in particular, fisheries regulations and trade matters affecting the seafood and aquaculture industries, and work with companies to develop solutions and strategies for a fluctuating trade landscape.
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