WASHINGTON —U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., Chair of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will pay $19 million to the Louisiana crawfish industry from unpaid duties the agency collected in a court judgment against Chinese processors that illegally dumped crawfish on the U.S. market. CBP announced its decision at a meeting with leaders of the Louisiana crawfish industry that was requested by Sen. Landrieu. This marks the largest single payout ever received by the crawfish industry, and is nearly three times more than last year's payout.
In July, Sen. Landrieu chaired a hearing to press border security and customs officials for increased enforcement of existing trade laws. During the hearing, it was revealed that CBP was withholding as much as $6 million in additional duties it collected to pay itself interest that accrued before the judgment. Following the hearing, Sen. Landrieu wrote to CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske strongly urging him to return that money to the crawfish farmers and fishermen who suffered the damage from the illegal dumping. Read Sen. Landrieu’s letter here.
In today's meeting with Commissioner Kerlikowske, representatives from the crawfish industry pressed the case for the additional interest payments to be added to the payout. Additionally, they requested that CBP repay any additional interest withheld in previous years and to include interest in follow up payments. This could put the total money the industry receives at $25 million for the year.
“Louisiana crawfish are part of our culture. These payments are reviving an industry nearly brought to its knees by illegal dumping. I’m glad Commissioner Kerlikowske listened to my requests to reverse CBP’s original decision to keep 90 percent of the duties awarded by the court. The trade laws on the books are meant to protect crawfish farmers, not add revenue to CBP’s coffers,” Sen. Landrieu said. “Our crawfish farmers and fishermen can compete with anyone in the world when they are on a level playing field. But when other countries and companies unfairly and illegally ‘dump’ their goods on the U.S. market, it does tremendous damage to the domestic crawfish industry, costing American jobs. When I think of Louisiana, I think of crawfish and seafood. This is a battle for our way of life, and I promise to continue to fight for the protection of our crawfish industry.”
In 2011, Sen. Landrieu held the first-ever Appropriations hearing on trade enforcement. Since then, she has directed a total of $9 million to increase the collection of anti-dumping and countervailing duties for unfairly traded imports, including shrimp and crawfish meat from China.
In June, Sen. Landrieu directed $3 million to be used to collect anti-dumping duties from countries that illegally dump shrimp, crawfish and other seafood into U.S. markets. The funding is part of the bill that funds the Department of Homeland Security for FY15 and also requires CBP to work with the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and Treasury to increase collection of anti-dumping and countervailing duties for unfairly traded imports, including shrimp and crawfish meat from China.
Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duty (AD/CVD) enforcement is one of the primary trade enforcement missions of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There are approximately 35,000 unpaid AD/CVD bills dating back to FY01, totaling $1.79 billion in uncollected revenue. Although CBP is attempting to collect these duties, their efforts are complicated by unscrupulous importers who use a wide variety of tactics, including shell companies, trans-shipment, and intentional undervaluation, in order to avoid paying their fair share of tariffs for goods sold in the American marketplace.
When foreign producers send dumped or unfairly subsidized goods into our country, vigorous enforcement of our trade laws is the only way that American businesses can compete on a level playing field.
Sen. Landrieu has long-fought to protect and support Louisiana’s seafood industry. In 2011, she pressed CBP and ICE to strengthen its efforts to collect anti-dumping duties.
Louisiana is home to more than 1,800 crawfish farmers and fishermen who harvest over 110 million pounds of crawfish each year contributing nearly $120 million in economic impact for Louisiana's economy.
Source: Office of U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La.