US Tariffs Pause: India to send 40000 tones of shrimp to US after tariff freeze, stopped shipments ready to go

New Delhi| Indian businessmen are preparing to send a large consignment of prawns to the US after Donald Trump’s 90-day moratorium on retaliatory tariffs imposed on India. According to experts, India’s seafood exporters are preparing to send 35,000-40,000 tones of shrimp to America. The number of orders is stable after U.S. President Donald Trump blocked a plan to impose a 26 percent reciprocal fee and reduced the fee to 10 percent, according to industry people.

Speaking to PTI, KN Raghavan, general secretary of the Indian Seafood Exporters Association, said, “Now we have got a lot of relief, because we have now reached par with other exporters of America in terms of import duty”. Now stopped shipments will be worked out.”

Some 2,000 containers of shrimp shipped late are now being prepared for export, he said. Trump had decided to freeze the tariffs on April 9, only a week after announcing the higher tariffs on April 2. Under the temporary relief, a comprehensive tariff of 10 per cent will continue to apply to all countries except China, as China is subject to a 145 per cent duty.

Currently, Indian shrimp exports to the US attract an effective customs duty of 17.7 per cent, including a 5.7 per cent countervailing duty and a 1.8 per cent anti-dumping duty. Industry sources said Indian exporters generally bear tariff costs under the delivery duty-payment regime. Which means that previously contracted shipments would have faced additional expenses due to higher tariffs.

“The 90-day moratorium provides exporters with the opportunity to fulfill these orders at no additional cost”, said an industry representative The association said that there has been no reduction in orders from America. The US remains India’s largest shrimp market in terms of both quantity and value. India exported US$2.7 billion of shrimp to the US in FY 2023-24. Raghavan urged the government to focus on ensuring a “level playing field” for the country’s seafood exports during the upcoming trade talks before the tariff moratorium ends.