Norwegian seafood producers will be among the hardest hit by US President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs on exports to the US. Slapping his 16 percent tariff on Norwegian salmon and other seafood sent to US restaurants, for example, can make one load currently en route around NOK 10 million (nearly USD 1 million) more expensive.

Norway catches and produces large quantities of mackerel, salmon, halibut and other seafood. Suddenly its exports to the US are facing new and large tariffs that will make it much more expensive for American consumers, or cut off imports. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst

“The situation is absurd,” Tommy Torvanger, head of seafood producer Nergård in Tromsø told his local newspaper Nordlys over the weekend. “It’s a bit crazy that this is happening so fast. We’re facing huge changes in such a short period of time.”

The US market accounts for only about 8 percent of Norwegian exports, but fresh fish and seafood account for a lot of that. Nergård currently has a load of both snow crabs and dried fish on its way over the Atlantic that’s worth around NOK 67 million. A basic tariff of 10 percent was due to be slapped on that upon arrival, plus another 6 percent after April 9.

Torvanger notes how much of that will be passed on to American consumers, while Norwegian fishing boats may receive less for their catch when producers need to cover higher costs. He’s hoping customers will avoid the new tariff, since the large load of seafood was sent before  the tariffs were to take effect, but his company and Norway’s important seafood industry faces lots of uncertainty.

Owners of Norwegian fishing boats, like those here in Lofoten, face lots of uncertainty since US President Donald Trump slapped a 16 percent tariff on all imports from Norway. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Morten Møst

“We feel like we’re in a type of limbo, we’re waiting and wondering what to do,” Torvanger told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), which has been devoting a lot of its national coverage to the trauma over Trump’s tariffs. Torvanger claims his direct customers, US seafood wholesalers, are also confused, uncertain and “shaken” because so much of their seafood is imported from other countries around the world.

He basically expects a reduction in sales to the US, and that there will be less Norwegian salmon in American restuarants and on American dinner tables. He said the entire tariff threat has created a lot more work for producers and receivers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Norwegian seafood ranks among Norway’s most important exports after oil and gas. New figures show that the value of seafood exports hit NOK 15.3 billion in January, high season for fresh cod and other cold-water fish, making it the best January month ever. If sales to New York restaurants decline, for example, it could make exports of such high-end seafood as king crab more affordable again for Norwegians. It used to cost around NOK 200-300 a kilo at fish counters in Oslo, but it’s lately been priced at NOK 1,200 or more, since markets abroad have been willing to pay so much.

Norway’s government minister in charge of business and trade, Cecilie Myrseth of the Labour Party, calls the situation “very serious, for both the world economy and not least fir the trade that we are dependent upon.” Norway has been reluctant to simply respond to Trump’s punitive tariffs by slapping a reciprocal 16 percent on US goods coming to Norway.

“As a small, open economy, it’s not in our interests to do that,” Myrseth told NRK. “We rely on exports and trade with other countries.” She’s still hoping the government can negotiate with Trump’s government and lower the new tariff, but the uncertainty Trump has created remains.

“The first thing it to continue our dialogue with the US,” she said. “The second, and perhaps the most important, is the dialogue we have with the EU,” which has been slapped with a 20 percent tariff. The EU has vowed to simply impose a similar tariff on US imports to the EU. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was flying to Brussels this week for more meetings with EU leader Ursula von der Leyen, to ward off getting caught in a squeeze between the US and EU.

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund