February 24, 2018

US shrimp trade deficit balloons to $6.4B in 2017

The trade deficit (total imports minus exports) in shrimp products grew substantially last year by 15.6%, according to recently released trade statistics from the US government, the Southern Shrimp Alliance reports.

The total US trade deficit in shrimp products reached a $6.4 billion last year, the second straight year that the country's trade deficit in shrimp products increased, with the amount in 2017 now 23.7% larger than the $5.2 billion deficit seen in 2015.

The massive seafood trade deficit that the US runs with the rest of the world was first highlighted in NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) yearbook "Fisheries of the United States" for 2016, which reported that in 2016, the US' seafood trade deficit with Asian nations ran to $6.98 billion. Shrimp, on its own, accounted for 46% of the total seafood trade deficit with these countries.

NOAA Fisheries' reporting came in response to President Trump's executive order regarding an Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits proclaimed in March 2017. At the time the executive order was issued, the US' annual trade deficit in goods exceeded $700 billion.