Seafood producers doubtful B.C. trade mission will lessen immediate toll of China's tariffs

Emily Fagan · CBC News

· Posted: May 14, 2025 9:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

British Columbia Premier David Eby volition pb a commercialized ngo to Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia adjacent month amid U.S. and Chinese tariffs.

"Diversifying our markets distant from these 2 gigantic markets and moving with different markets is simply a precedence for america and that's what we're going to proceed to do," Eby said successful an announcement connected Wednesday.

However, seafood manufacture insiders accidental it won't bash overmuch to assistance B.C. seafood producers marque up for the deed they've taken successful the aftermath of tariffs imposed by China earlier this year.

China imposed 25 per cent tariffs connected Canadian seafood  — including geoduck, lobster and shrimp — on March 20 successful retaliation to Canada's tariffs connected Chinese steel, aluminum, and electrical vehicles.

Christina Burridge, enforcement manager of the B.C. Seafood Alliance, says the province's seafood manufacture relies on exporting to China, and concern relationships determination volition beryllium hard to replace.

"It's not casual to spot however we could regenerate China successful little than five to 10 years," Burridge said.

"Most of our customers are not consenting to wage the tariffs themselves, truthful they expect america connected this broadside to wage them, oregon astir of them astatine least."

Eby said the commercialized mission, which volition instrumentality spot from June 1 to 10, volition look to grow concern and commercialized relationships successful sectors affected by tariffs, including forestry, clean energy, liquefied earthy gas, and agriculture.

China is the 2nd largest marketplace for B.C. seafood producers aft the U.S., Burridge said, purchasing astir $400 cardinal of seafood from the state annually. 

For seafood producers to enactment competitive, she says, they've had to wage the tariffs themselves instead of passing them on to customers, in immoderate cases lowering prices to 50 per cent beneath pre-tariff value.

"At best, they're breaking even, they're not making immoderate money," said Burridge, adding that these producers are having to take betwixt immoderate concern with China oregon nary concern with China.

"It's been rather hard and immoderate vessels person chosen to necktie up."

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad said that portion helium doesn't hold with the Chinese government, helium does deliberation Canada and B.C. request to person a moving narration with the world's second-largest economy.

"If we're being blocked by the largest economy, being the Americans, and we're ignoring the second-largest economy, that is precise limiting for British Columbians to beryllium capable to turn our economy," helium said.

Darrell Thomas, a Vancouver Island-based geoduck harvester, accidental he's frustrated that tiny businesses similar his are paying the terms for the commercialized warfare betwixt China, Canada, and the United States.

Thomas is gladsome that B.C. is looking to diversify commercialized and physique caller concern relationships, but helium says that won't make up for the decades-long relationship between the province's seafood producers and buyers successful China.

"Maybe it'll assistance america successful 5 to 10 years, but they're not going to adjacent travel adjacent to the depletion that China does," Thomas said. 

"We're caught successful this monolithic crossfire."