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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today praised a decision issued Tuesday that will help level the playing field for the Mississippi shrimp industry by imposing antidumping and countervailing duties on frozen warmwater shrimp imported from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on Tuesday affirmed antidumping and countervailing duty petitions against these imports from the four nations—all of which Hyde-Smith has criticized for using unfair subsidies and illegal dumping practices to suppress the historic shrimping industry in Mississippi. The ITC agreed that these foreign actors have caused material injury to the U.S. shrimping industry.
“The ITC deserves credit for recognizing that an important American industry has been under siege from unfair foreign actors. The duties that will be imposed on shrimp imports from these countries should help Mississippi shrimpers and processors hold their own and, I hope, grow,” Hyde-Smith said. “We cannot and should not allow unfair trade practices to overwhelm the American shrimp industry. The ITC ruling is a strong step to ensuring that goal.”
In an October letter to ITC Chair Amy Karpel in support of the petitions filed by the domestic shrimp industry, Hyde-Smith noted that unfair trade practices, child and slave labor, and the use of illegal drugs and chemicals on foreign shrimp farms “contribute to an unbelievably low cost of production with which U.S. producers, who operate according to the highest standards in the world, cannot compete.”
As a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, Hyde-Smith has also pressured Biden administration officials on its handling of shrimp imported from nations like Ecuador.
In May, Hyde-Smith received commitments from the Food and Drug Administration commissioner to provide data about FDA inspections of Ecuadorean shrimp imports and subsequent refusal rates since the signing of a U.S.-Ecuador Regulatory Partnership Arrangement. In addition, Hyde-Smith sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Commerce in April for its handling of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, particularly regarding Ecuadorean shrimp imports.
“I am committed to ensuring your agency takes appropriate actions to protect this industry that is so essential to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Hyde-Smith wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “I am deeply concerned that Commerce is acceding to Ecuadorean companies’ untimely requests, granting repeated extensions, waiving basic reporting requirements, and permitting unwarranted deviations from normal practice. These actions are a slap in the face to the domestic industry your agency is supposed to protect.”
