House Select Committee Leaders Ask for Trade Action Against Chinese Tuna, Squid
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., led a bipartisan letter signed by a dozen other House members asking National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Richard Spinrad to "strongly consider enforcing trade restrictions against the PRC on specific seafood products tainted by forced labor," such as tuna and squid. China's government has the right to 90 days of consultations on the issue before the administration imposes trade restrictions.
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"Urgent action is needed. Past approaches to combatting [illegal, unreported and unregulated] fishing by the [People's Republic of China] and efforts to stop forced labor have been insufficient, putting our [fishermen] and seafood producers at a competitive disadvantage, damaging marine ecosystems, and implicating U.S. consumers in forced labor," the letter said.
The letter noted that China is the top exporter of seafood in the world, and one of the top exporters to the U.S.