As the Bahamas’ high-stakes commercial crawfish season approaches just days away, the Davis administration is racing to secure a targeted exemption from a newly implemented 12.5 percent United States tariff that threatens to upend the country’s critical fisheries sector. The tariff entered into force on July 24, following a determination by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that The Bahamas had not enacted and effectively enforced a ban on imports produced through forced labour.
Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Jomo Campbell has moved quickly to clarify that the USTR’s ruling is not an indictment of Bahamian fishing industry labour practices. He emphasized that the penalty stems from gaps in the country’s broader regulatory framework for imported goods from third parties, not evidence of forced labour in local commercial fisheries. All licensed Bahamian commercial fishing vessels are locally owned, operate in full compliance with Bahamian labour law, and do not rely on foreign labour, Campbell said, adding that the sector’s ethical track record remains uncompromised.
The timing of the tariff is particularly problematic: the annual crawfish season, the most commercially valuable period for the country’s fishing industry, opens on August 1, leaving exporters and small-scale fishers bracing for increased costs in their largest export market. Spiny lobster (commonly called crawfish in The Bahamas) and stone crab are the two Bahamian seafood products most exposed to the new duty, with roughly 60 percent of the country’s spiny lobster exports destined for the US market. Data from the Marine Stewardship Council shows the sector exports over four million pounds of lobster tails annually, supporting roughly 9,000 Bahamian fishers. Adrian LaRoda, president of the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance, estimates annual crawfish shipments to the US generate between $50 million and $70 million in revenue. These exports make up a substantial portion of The Bahamas’ total $120 million in annual export-generated foreign currency earnings, a critical lifeline for the country’s economy.
In response to the tariff, the Bahamian government has outlined a three-pronged strategy to mitigate harm and resolve the dispute with Washington. First, the government has already passed amendments to the Customs Management Act that formally prohibit imports of forced labour-produced goods, aligning the country’s laws with USTR requirements. Campbell noted that six other countries have already updated their legislation following USTR’s action and successfully moved from the 12.5 percent tariff rate to a lower 10 percent levy, and The Bahamas intends to become the seventh. The government is currently investigating why its recent regulatory changes did not qualify the country for the lower rate, and identifying remaining gaps to address.
Second, the administration is actively pursuing a product-specific exemption for Bahamian crawfish and stone crab, given their outsized importance to the local industry and the lack of forced labour concerns in the sector. Third, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources is coordinating with the Ministry of Finance, Bahamas Customs, and The Bahamas’ embassy in Washington to provide direct support to seafood processors and exporters as they navigate the new regulatory and cost requirements ahead of the season opening.
The 12.5 percent tariff was imposed as part of 60 separate Section 301 investigations launched by the US into countries and trading blocs that Washington determined had failed to block forced-labour goods from entering their markets. USTR initially named 54 economies, including major US allies and trading partners such as Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Japan and New Zealand, as failing to both enact and enforce forced labour import prohibitions, with six others cited for failing to enforce existing bans. Countries that met USTR’s requirements by enacting a full ban, committing to one via trade agreement, or establishing a partial blocking system were assigned a 10 percent tariff, while non-compliant economies faced the higher 12.5 percent rate. The final determination for The Bahamas went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 24, with goods already in transit before the deadline and entered into the US by July 28 exempted from the additional duty.
Campbell also moved to correct misinformation about the magnitude of the cost increase for exporters. He explained that The Bahamas had already been subject to a temporary 10 percent US import surcharge since August 2025, implemented by the US to address what the White House called serious international payments imbalances and a large US balance-of-payments deficit. That temporary surcharge expired the same day the new 12.5 percent tariff took effect, meaning exporters face only a 2.5 percentage point increase in total duties, rather than a full 12.5 percentage point added to the existing charge. “Our fishermen should not go into this season believing the figure is five times what it is,” Campbell said.
Even so, the additional cost lands on an industry that already operates on very narrow profit margins. A US seafood importer previously urged the US administration to grant an exemption for Bahamian crawfish and stone crab, arguing that the Bahamian fishery has no documented forced labour issues, and the tariff would harm not just Bahamian suppliers but also US distributors and American consumers. The importer warned that the full additional cost cannot be absorbed by the seafood supply chain, and would risk disrupting long-standing commercial relationships between US buyers and Bahamian fishing operations.
Beyond the fisheries sector, the tariff could have much broader economic impacts for The Bahamas, which relies heavily on the US as its primary trading partner. A submission during the US public consultation period estimated that up to $985 million in 2024 Bahamian exports to the US could be affected, including refined petroleum, styrene polymers, pearl products, and financial documents of title. US trade data shows 83.3 percent of The Bahamas’ imports originate in the US, which exported $5.48 billion in goods to The Bahamas in 2024 and held a $3.7 billion trade surplus with the country.
Campbell emphasized that the new tariff will not impact seafood sold within The Bahamas, nor exports to the European Union and Canada, and that the opening of the 2025 crawfish season will proceed as scheduled on August 1 across New Providence, Grand Bahama, and all of the country’s Family Islands.