Tuberville bill would protect Alabama shrimpers, farmers and producers

WASHINGTON – Recognizing the adverse impact of foreign shrimp and agriculture products dumped on American – and Alabama – markets, Sen. Tommy Tuberville joined Sen. Bill Cassidy in re-introducing the “Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act.”

The legislation, which Tuberville cosponsored in the last congressional session, will help eliminate trade barriers that harm American farmers, producers, and businesses, leading to higher prices for consumers. This legislation aims to protect U.S. agriculture while ensuring that the food which appears on U.S. store shelves meets U.S. health standards.

“America’s ag industry can out-compete anyone in the world—as long as the rules are fair,” said Tuberville (R-Auburn). “But right now, our farmers, producers, and fishermen are suffering because of foreign countries violating their trade obligations. We must level the playing field to bolster our domestic ag industry.

“We must eliminate barriers to our agriculture exports. I will continue to keep working to remove red tape for those in our ag industry.”

Joining Tuberville and Cassidy (R-La.) in re-introducing this legislation are Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

The bill establishes a joint task force on agricultural trade enforcement led by the U.S. Trade Representative. The task force will more proactively monitor upcoming Indian and Chinese industrial subsidies, rather than waiting to react after subsidies are in place.

The bill will also require the task force to report recommendations to Congress to deal with unfair subsidies they identify, such as India dumping shrimp on the U.S. market, driving down income for American fisherman.

Alabama shrimp farmers produce approximately 200,000 to 300,000 pounds of farm-raised shrimp annually. In 2022, commercial wild-shrimp landings totaled approximately 24.3 million pounds, with over $52 million in value, in Alabama.

Since 2005, the U.S. has imposed antidumping duties and conducted reviews of those duties on shrimp. These antidumping duties were placed on foreign shrimp suppliers as a result of unfair trade practices. These practices flooded the U.S. shrimp market with foreign frozen warmwater shrimp, deteriorating the per-pound price from $6.50 in 1980 to under $1 today.

The decline in shrimp prices has driven domestic harvesters out of business and allowed foreign entities to control this U.S. market. India is the world’s top shrimp exporter, accounting for roughly 40% of U.S. shrimp imports, largely due to massive subsidies from the Indian government.