US Seafood Exports Reach $5.523 Billion in 2025, Up 12%; USTR Flags Trade Barriers in Japan, EU, India and Vietnam
In a notice issued on October 28, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) reported that US seafood exports reached $5.523 billion in 2025, up 12% year on year, while listing barriers including Japanese tariffs and quotas, EU CATCH documentation requirements, Indian fisheries subsidies and IUU fishing in Vietnam; USDA data show the US seafood trade deficit reached $20.7 billion in the same year.
In a notice issued on October 28, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) listed expanding overseas market access as a key priority for the seafood industry, and reported that US seafood exports reached $5.523 billion in 2025, up 12% from the previous year. The figure is consistent with the statistical series of the USDA Economic Research Service, which ranks the United States as the world's tenth-largest seafood exporter by trade value.
In the notice, USTR listed barriers it considers to undermine the competitiveness of US exporting firms: tariffs of up to 10% and import quota restrictions in Japan; documentation compliance requirements under the EU's CATCH system; fisheries subsidies in India; and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing alleged to exist in Vietnam. The source explicitly states that the above contents are unilateral characterizations by USTR, not independent third-party assessments of each measure.
USTR also relisted fisheries trade commitments involving the Taiwan region, Argentina, Bangladesh, Ecuador and Indonesia, among which the Taiwan side committed to ensuring that its fisheries subsidies do not contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and to addressing internationally recognized labor rights abuses on commercial fishing vessels. The agency also said it continues to monitor Mexico's implementation under the USMCA framework. The October 28 notice did not announce any new agreements with the above trading partners. The federal strategy mentioned by USTR was published on October 23, aimed at coordinating trade, production, processing and market access actions.
Annual export growth has not changed the trade deficit picture. The 2025 growth refers to nominal export value; in the inflation-adjusted series measured in 2025 dollars, USDA estimates that real exports fell by about 21% between 1995 and 2025. USDA further estimates that the seafood trade deficit in 2025 was $20.7 billion, also in constant 2025 dollars. Single-year export growth coexists with a long-term structural gap between imports and exports.
USTR added that export value is expected to maintain upward momentum in 2026, but the notice did not provide time-series data or breakdowns sufficient to verify that conclusion. The agency said it will continue to use trade negotiations and enforcement tools to expand market access and to address trade practices it considers harmful to US producers.