Targeting "Slave Labor" on Chinese and North Korean Distant-Water Fishing Vessels
Orders Strategy for Seafood Trade Within 60 Days
Instructs Review of Fishing Restrictions Around Marine National Monuments
U.S. President Donald Trump on the 17th (local time) instructed the formulation of a strategy to respond to foreign unfair practices and non-tariff barriers related to seafood trade. President Trump emphasized that this measure is important for increasing the scale of U.S. seafood exports.
On the same day, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the interagency Seafood Trade Task Force (TF) to prepare a comprehensive seafood trade strategy within 60 days that includes these points.
According to the executive order titled "Restoring America's Seafood Competitiveness," President Trump instructed the USTR to review trade practices such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by major seafood-producing countries and the use of forced labor in seafood supply chains. This appears to target the fact that North Korean workers dispatched to Chinese distant-water fishing vessels have been subjected to exploitation akin to slavery for years.
The environmental organization Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), headquartered in London, UK, published a report last February stating that North Korean workers dispatched to Chinese distant-water fishing vessels for foreign currency earning are subjected to exploitation close to "slave labor." According to the report, North Korean crew members are not allowed to enter ports and are prohibited from carrying mobile phones, resulting in them being unable to contact their families for years.
Additionally, President Trump instructed that the opinions of the U.S. fishing industry be heard and that regulations burdening U.S. fisheries, aquaculture, and fish processing industries be halted, revised, or repealed. He ordered that the most excessive regulations be identified and appropriate actions taken within 30 days of the executive order announcement.
Along with this, President Trump also directed a review of fishing restrictions imposed around U.S. marine national monuments and requested recommendations be prepared within 180 days. Bloomberg News stated that this is a measure that could provoke opposition from environmental groups.
Meanwhile, President Trump also signed a memorandum extending the temporary suspension of federal government (executive branch) employee hiring until July 15.
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