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Courtesy of NAA:

On May 7, 2020, the White House issued an Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth directing key federal agencies to further fair and reciprocal trade in seafood products (see Section 11, International Seafood Trade).

As part of this effort, the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) are co-chairing the Interagency Seafood Trade Task Force (Seafood Trade Task Force), which will develop recommendations to provide to USTR for the development of a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy.

On behalf of the Seafood Trade Task Force co-chairs, NOAA Fisheries requests written input from interested parties on how best to achieve the objectives of the Seafood Trade Task Force as described in the Executive Order, including improving access to foreign markets for U.S. seafood exports through trade policy and negotiations; resolving technical barriers to U.S. seafood exports; and otherwise supporting fair market access for U.S. seafood products. In addition, interested parties are requested to respond to the questions listed below. The public input provided in response to this Federal Register notice will inform the Seafood Trade Task Force as it works with Federal agencies and other stakeholders to develop recommendations to USTR in the preparation of a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy. Comments are due August 1, 2020.

1. Which seafood products (to include fish, shellfish, and processed fish and seafood products) are you currently exporting? Please provide the Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) codes for these products (to find HTS codes, click here).

2. To which countries or other trading partners are you currently exporting?

3. Are there countries or other trading partners to which you are planning to export, or to which you would like to export? Please specify.

4. Are there issues in the markets you currently export to that limit your exports or unnecessarily increase the costs for your exports? Please specify.

5. Are there issues in other markets that have prevented you from exporting? Please specify.

6. Are there other issues that affect the competitiveness of your product in foreign markets? Please specify.

7. Are there barriers that prevent the export of your product to certain markets? Please specify.

The Federal Register notice can be read here. Responses are to be submitted via email to SeafoodTrade.Strategy@noaa.gov. Include ‘‘RFI Response: Interagency Seafood Trade Task Force’’ in the subject line of your message.