How Andean trade law could shift tuna market

摘要

Ecuador's U.S. exports could swell by 600 percent, but U.S. fishermen, cannery workers, and tuna ports may suffer. A May U.S. International Trade Commission report supported what many tuna fishermen and some companies forecasted if a new version of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) becomes law, granting duty-free access to canned tuna from Ecuador: the law would result in slightly lower U.S. canned tuna prices, imports from Andean countries would displace other imports (and U.S. production), and imports from Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia would likely drop. The federal government would also likely lose money. American Samoabased fishermen and cannery workers fear a shift in tuna processing to Ecuador would cost them jobs and triggera collapse of the local economy.