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US lawmakers move bill targeting Indian shrimps
The proposed higher duties are sought to be applied independently of the steep 50% tariffs currently imposed by the US on India, alarming exporters.
NEW DELHI: Two Republican lawmakers introduced last week an anti-dumping bill in Congress specifically seeking to impose steeper duties on shrimps, a move that comes amid New Delhi’s renewed trade talks with Washington.
The US, India’s single largest market for shrimps, imported marine products worth $2.68 billion in 2024-25, according to official data. Republican senators Bill Cassidy and Cindy Hyde-Smith moved the India Shrimp Tariff Act last week in Congress, aiming to ratchet up duties on Indian shrimps progressively to 40%.
The proposed higher duties are sought to be applied independently of the steep 50% tariffs currently imposed by the US on India, alarming exporters.
The India Shrimp Tariff Act accuses India of dumping shrimps, which refers to a country or company exporting a product at a price lower than its domestic sale price.
Indian exporters said the new bill would be detrimental to trade with the US but a lot of work was on to finalise new contracts in alternative destinations in South Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
As investors fretted about the impact of the bill, shares of marine-export companies, including the Coastal Corporation Ltd, Avanti Feeds and Apex Frozen Foods, fell 9% since the bill’s introduction on Sept 19.
“The solution lies in alternative markets and China has emerged as a promising destination as it has been the second-largest importer of Indian shrimps after the US,” said Shaji Baby John, chairman and managing director of Kings Infra Ventures Ltd, a Kerala-based shrimp export firm.
The bill requires the “general rate of duty for shrimp and prawns originating from India to be (1) 10% for 2024, (2) 20% for 2025, and (2) 40% for 2026 and after”, according to the bill’s summary on the US Congress website. It enjoins the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to “take the necessary steps to modify the Schedule of Concessions to accommodate the increase in the rate of duty applicable under this bill”.
“The shrimp bill, if passed, could harden positions on both sides, given the economic stakes for India’s aquaculture sector, which supplies over 40% of the shrimp consumed in the US,” said Samyak Pandey, an analyst with S&P Global.
India’s goods exports to the US fell 22.2% to $6.9 billion between May to August 2025, according to the Global Trade and Research Initiative (GTRI).
