Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “India Shrimp Tariff Act”.
India Shrimp Tariff Act
A BILL
To increase the rate of duty on shrimp originating from India, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
GATT1947; GATT 1994— The terms GATT 1947 and GATT 1994 have the meanings given those terms in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
HTS— The term HTS means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
National Trade Estimate— The term National Trade Estimate means the report required to be submitted by the United States Trade Representative under section 181(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2241(b)).
Schedule of concessions— The term Schedule of Concessions has the meaning given the term Schedule XX in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
World Trade Organization— The term World Trade Organization means the organization established pursuant to the WTO Agreement, as defined in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
Sec. 3 Sense of Congress on the need to phase-in a duty increase for shrimp from India
Findings— Congress makes the following findings:
The United States has a grand tradition of shrimp production, but domestic producers are forced to compete in a wide open market while exports from India are heavily subsidized and protected.
According to the National Trade Estimate in 2023, “India’s bound tariff rates on agricultural products are among the highest in the world, averaging 113.1 percent and ranging as high as 300.0 percent.”.
India’s basic duty on shrimp is 30 percent.
The National Trade Estimate also records that since 2018, India has applied an additional 10 percent social welfare surcharge on imports, assessed on the value of its existing high duties, which includes shrimp.
Wild-caught and farm-raised shrimp from the United States now account for less than 10 percent of shrimp consumption in the United States.
Shrimp production overseas is able to undercut the costs of shrimp produced in the United States due to poor worker and environmental protections.
Shrimp imports from India consist almost entirely of farm-raised aquaculture shrimp, as the importation of wild-caught shrimp from India remains prohibited due to the failure of Indian fisheries to meet the certification requirements under section 609(b)(2) of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1990 (Public Law 101–162; 16 U.S.C. 1537 note).
According to Seafood Watch, “India’s farmed shrimp industry has expanded rapidly since 2014 and faces challenges with disease outbreaks, health management, farm registration, and data availability.”.
The United States has taken a lax approach to inspecting imported shrimp, with only 0.1 percent of shipments being inspected for unsafe drug residues. Despite that low inspection rate, every year, shipments of shrimp from India are refused due to testing by the Food and Drug Administration for banned antibiotics.
During the 20-year period preceding the date of the enactment of this Act, shrimp producers in the United States have paid a tremendous cost to litigate trade remedy laws to defend against predatory pricing and illegal subsidies from Indian shrimp imports.
The Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization has limited the effectiveness of trade remedy laws of the United States in relation to shrimp imports from India and as a result, tens of millions of dollars in antidumping duties go uncollected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The United States rate of duty for warm-water shrimp, set under subheadings 0306.17, 1605.21, and 1605.29 of the HTS, is set to “free” in both the column 1 and column 2 rate of duty columns, meaning there is no duty owed for the entire world absent a trade remedy order.
The United States rate of duty for preserved or frozen shrimp, in a product containing fish meat or prepared meals, is 5 percent, but waived under the Generalized System of Preferences under title V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) and all relevant United States free trade agreements under the column 1 special rate of duty column of the HTS.
Maintaining a 0 percent tariff on shrimp under both column 1 and column 2 of the HTS negates any benefits, including increased environmental and worker rights protections, stemming from preferential tariff programs or free trade agreements.
India maintains a base customs duty for shrimp of 30 percent, before applying an additional 10 percent social welfare surcharge – special duty.
Sense of Congress— It is the sense of Congress that phasing in an increased duty for shrimp originating from India is prudent and necessary to safeguard sustainable harvesting of shrimp in the United States and from free trade agreement partners of the United States, and would enhance the trade and development goals of the tariff preference programs of the United States.
Sec. 4 Treatment of shrimp from India
Phase-In of duty increase—
Calendar year 2024— Effective on January 1, 2024, subheadings 0306.16.00, 0306.17.00, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1605.21, and 1605.29 of the HTS shall be applied and administered with respect to imports from India—
in the column 1 general rate of duty column, by substituting “10%” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable; and
in the column 2 rate of duty column, by substituting “25¢/kg” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable.
Calendar year 2025— Effective on January 1, 2025, subheadings 0306.16.00, 0306.17.00, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1605.21, and 1605.29 of the HTS shall be applied and administered with respect to imports from India—
in the column 1 general rate of duty column, by substituting “20%” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable; and
in the column 2 rate of duty column, by substituting “50¢/kg” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable.
Calendar year 2026 and thereafter— Effective on January 1, 2026, subheadings 0306.16.00, 0306.17.00, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1605.21, and 1605.29 of the HTS shall be applied and administered with respect to imports from India—
in the column 1 general rate of duty column, by substituting “40%” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable; and
in the column 2 rate of duty column, by substituting “$1/kg” for the rate of duty otherwise applicable.
Customs valuation— Notwithstanding section 402 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1401a), or any other provision of law, shrimp imported into the United States from India shall be appraised, for purposes of that Act, as not less than the average of United States ex-vessel shrimp prices as of the date of exportation.
Sec. 5 Country of origin labeling for cooked shrimp and crawfish
In general— Section 281(7)(B) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638(7)(B)) is amended—
by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”;
by striking “includes a fillet” and inserting “includes—
“(i) a fillet”
by adding at the end the following:
“(ii) whole cooked shrimp and crawfish and cooked shrimp and crawfish sections.”
Modification of definition of processed food item— The Secretary of Agriculture shall modify section 60.119 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), to ensure that cooked shrimp, cooked crawfish, cooked shrimp sections, and cooked crawfish sections are not considered processed food items for purposes of that section.
Sec. 6 Modification of schedule of concessions to GATT 1994
With due regard for the international obligations of the United States, particularly Article XXXVIII of the GATT 1947 requiring any suspension of trade agreement concessions to be made on a most-favored nation basis, the United States Trade Representative shall take the necessary steps to modify the Schedule of Concessions to accommodate the increase in the rate of duty applicable to shrimp from India under section 4.