Alaska Gov. Bill Walker says his independent administration is working with the state’s seafood industry to lessen the impact of proposed retaliatory tariffs by China, a key market for a host of Alaskan exports such as natural gas.
“They really are our market for a lot of our products,” Mr. Walker said in an interview. “We think that, obviously, China is the best fit because of the growing need for liquefied natural gas and their desire to improve air quality. So it’s a natural fit for us.”
China last month proposed tariffs on $50 billion of U.S. exports, including Pacific Northwest seafood, after President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese exports on June 15.
Alaska seafood companies export about $1 billion worth of seafood products to China annually.
“It is too early to fully understand how the tariff increase might affect the value of Alaska seafood in the China domestic market,” said Jeremy Woodrow, communications director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). “The growing Chinese middle-class has also created more spending power, which has led to increased sales of Alaska seafood.”
The U.S. is the largest market for Alaskan seafood, but more than half of Alaskan seafood exported to China is reprocessed and exported worldwide, Mr. Woodrow said. The remainder is consumed in China.
As of June 22, ASMI contacts in China have said customs officials there have interpreted the June 15 tariff announcement as exempting seafood products that will be reprocessed in China and then exported, Mr. Woodrow said.
For the past seven years, China has been Alaska’s largest trade partner, especially for seafood products. Asia also has been Alaska’s trade partner for liquefied natural gas since October 1969.
Mr. Walker said his state has a trillion-dollar trade opportunity, which is $10 billion per year and a 100-year opportunity on natural gas to China. With this trade opportunity, the size of projects Alaska produces and how the state works with China when shipping products will lower the trade deficit.
“We are a very resource-rich state,” the governor said. “If we were a nation, we would be the eighth [largest] resource-rich nation in the world, so we have resources that China imports.”
In addition to seafood and liquefied natural gas, Alaska exports gold from its Kensington mine to China.
“I think there is much more we can do with China,” said Mr. Walker, whose administration works with three Chinese government-owned entities on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Project. “I think that is where our emphasis wants to be is how can we grow our exports to china to bring down the trade deficit.”
According to an article published in Arctic Today, Alaska’s oil and gas industry is facing a challenge due to Trump tariffs on imported steel, which also could increase the costs of the $43.3 billion North Slope Natural Gas Project.
“Alaska has been challenged with a fiscal crisis over the last few years,” said Britteny Cioni-Haywood, division director of Division of Economic Development. “The governor has been working to find fiscal solutions to this challenge. The oil and gas sector is stabilizing, seafood has been mixed with low returns in some fisheries, but other fisheries have been strong.”
ASMI’s Mr. Woodrow said: “If the value of Alaska seafood is negatively impacted in the China domestic market, it will be critical to continue growing demand in [South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, and across northern, southern, and eastern Europe] markets and seeking new markets to expand global competition.”
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