“A bill to increase the rate of duty on shrimp originating from India, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines terms used in the Act: (1) GATT 1947 and GATT 1994, with meanings given in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501); (2) HTS, meaning the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States; (3) National Trade Estimate, meaning the report required under section 181(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2241(b)); (4) Schedule of Concessions, with the meaning given Schedule XX in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501); and (5) World Trade Organization, meaning the organization established pursuant to the WTO Agreement as defined in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
This section expresses the sense of Congress that phasing in an increased duty on shrimp imports from India is prudent and necessary to safeguard sustainable shrimp harvesting by the United States and its free trade agreement partners and to enhance U.S. tariff preference programs. The section lists 15 congressional findings on topics including Indian shrimp subsidies and tariffs (e.g., 30% base duty plus 10% social welfare surcharge), U.S. shrimp market share (less than 10%), low U.S. import inspection rates (0.1% of shipments), and challenges with trade remedies and WTO dispute settlement.
This section modifies column 1-general and column 2 rates of duty under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings 0306.16.00, 0306.17.00, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1605.21, and 1605.29 (covering frozen and processed shrimp) for imports from India as follows: (1) effective January 1, 2026, substituting 10% for the column 1-general rate otherwise applicable and 25¢/kg for the column 2 rate otherwise applicable; (2) effective January 1, 2027, substituting 20% for the column 1-general rate otherwise applicable and 50¢/kg for the column 2 rate otherwise applicable; and (3) effective January 1, 2028, and thereafter, substituting 40% for the column 1-general rate otherwise applicable and $1/kg for the column 2 rate otherwise applicable. This section further requires shrimp imports from India to be appraised for duty purposes at not less than the average U.S. ex-vessel shrimp price (i.e., price paid to domestic fishermen at port) as of the date of exportation, notwithstanding normal valuation methods under 19 U.S.C. 1401a.
This section amends the definition of wild fish under the country of origin labeling (COOL) program—requiring retailers and food service establishments to label the country of origin for covered commodities such as wild fish—to include whole cooked shrimp and crawfish and cooked shrimp and crawfish sections. It further directs the Secretary of Agriculture to revise regulations to exclude these items from the definition of processed food items (thus subjecting them to COOL requirements).
This section requires the President to impose an additional duty of $0.10 per kilogram on imports of shrimp under HTS subheadings 0306.16.00, 0306.17.00, 0306.35, 0306.36, 0306.95, 1605.21, and 1605.29. It directs that duties collected under this section be used to conduct inspections of shrimp and catfish imported into the United States.
This section directs the United States Trade Representative to modify the U.S. Schedule of Concessions to GATT 1994 (i.e., WTO bound tariff rates) to accommodate the increased duty on shrimp from India under section 4 and the additional increase under section 6, consistent with U.S. international obligations including most-favored-nation treatment under Article XXXVIII of GATT 1947. (Thus, the duty increases apply equally to imports of like products from all WTO members.)