Global Ripples as U.S. Tariffs Hit a Small Creature: the Shrimp

0:00Today on State of the World, global ripples as U.S. Tariffs hit a small creature, the shrimp. You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. Americans love shrimp. Ultimate endless shrimp is here with a limited time flavor drop. The restaurant chain Red Lobster once offered it all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion. And until recently, much of U.S. shrimp, over 40%, came from one place, India. But in August, President Trump slapped 25 % tariffs on many Indian industries, and then he doubled it to 50 % as punishment for buying Russian oil.

0:47And PR's Dia Hadid went to a coastal town in India where shrimp exports are an economic backbone to see what the tariffs mean for Indians there. And she found low-cost shrimp in the U.S. have far-reaching effects. A woman heads home after a day looking for work in a coastal town of Andhra Pradesh. Sita used to make about$120 a month, peeling and packing shrimp all day in a processing plant. But she hasn't had a shift in weeks.

1:22Sita's a single mother. It's all on her. For now, she's pulled her two teenage boys out of school. She's worried about the rent, worried about the$100 loan she took out last month to cover expenses. Sita's about one of a dozen women who tell NPR they haven't had a shift in weeks or they've had their hours curtailed. Sita asks that NPR only use her first name. She's worried about angering her boss and losing her job for good. The shrimp industry usually employs over a million people. From the fishmongers who sell their catch at the port, to the fishwives who auction off pungent mounds of dried shrimp.

2:06But the biggest slice of the industry is farm-peeled and frozen shrimp. Much of it shipped to America, or was shipped to America. Pawan Kumar Gunturu runs a major shrimp processing and export company. He also heads India's Seafood Exporters Association. the central body for seafood exporters throughout India. He says tariffs have priced them out of the American market. Now they're keeping shrimp once meant for the US in storage while they look for new markets. He says it just needs time. Two months, three months, six months, that's fine. But another industry leader says most folks don't have the resources to wait it out.

2:48Their margins are so thin. Farmer, they're getting mostly 5%. Rad are 5%. The export is also 5%. Arjali Dasu leads a federation of Indian fishery groups. He says he's already seeing impacts down the line. Traders and exporters aren't buying wholesale shrimp from farmers.

3:12And that's why shrimp farmer Rajakrishnan Raju thinks this is his last harvest. Very, very, very bad. For two decades, Raju's raised premium shrimp in saltwater ponds. Birds try nab a few, a worker shoos them away. Raja says he's likely to lose thousands of dollars this year. Economist Shamitru Chatterjee says this may be the fate of all sectors hit by Trump's tariffs. There is no way that industry can take a 50 % tariff. At that point, you are completely thrown out of the US market. Chatterjee is an assistant professor of international economics at Johns Hopkins University. And he says the industry is most at risk from Trump's tariffs.

3:57Apparel, footwear, leather, textile, even food processing. Are all labor intensive. They offer rare reliable work, even if it's badly paid. The tariffs may be ruinous in India, and yet. The tariffs are providing immediate relief for the U.S. shrimp industry. Debra Long is from the Southern Shrimp Alliance based in Florida. She says American shrimpers have been devastated by foreign competitors who've been allowed to use practices that are not allowed here in the United States and allow them to reduce costs. Like Indian producers who pay peanuts and who use antibiotics to raise more shrimp faster.

4:36Antibiotics use is largely restricted in the US. Long says the Alliance wants trade deals that enforce the same rules for everyone. But another expert says that isn't going to solve this problem. There are big coastlines in the United States, and yet 96 % of the seafood is imported. There's reasons for that. Katrina Nakamura is from the Sustainability Incubator, a Hawaii-based non-profit which investigates shrimp industries. She's reported on how American retailers have used their power over the market to drive down the price of shrimp to historic lows, even as she says they make historic profits.

5:14Unless retailers are reined in, Nakamura says they'll just find the next place prepared to cut corners to produce cheap shrimp. The same problem, a different country. Dee Hadid, NPR News, Bimunipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.

5:35That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.