By Canadian Press

B.C. geoduck exports facing possible devastation as Chinese tariffs loom

Mar 18, 2025 | 2:48 PM

VANCOUVER — British Columbia seafood producers are bracing for impact as China is slated to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on geoduck clams, a move that could devastate the multimillion-dollar export industry that is built almost exclusively on Chinese markets.

Christina Burridge, executive director with the BC Seafood Alliance, says about 95 per cent of Canada’s geoduck exports go to China, with exports of the clam to the country valued at about $75 million a year, all of which coming from B.C.’s coast.

China is imposing a tariffs ranging from 25 per cent to 100 per cent on a number of Canadian products, including geoducks, starting Thursday, in response to the federal government’s decision to impose a 100 per cent tax on Chinese electric vehicles and levies on steel and aluminum.

Burridge says local fleets have already stopped harvesting the clams as they await the resulting economic fallout.

Farmers in the Prairies have also expressed concern about the Chinese retaliatory tariffs on agricultural goods, which include a 100 per cent levy against canola oil, meal and peas.

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Burridge says there are domestic markets for geoduck and the industry is hopeful that other export markets such as Japan can be developed, but immediate and full-scale replacement of the loss of business in the Chinese market would almost be impossible to replace.

“It is going to be really, really difficult,” she says, adding the fleets may eventually decide to restart the harvest if they deem the reduced profit margins acceptable.

“I think people will have to decide whether it’s worth going fishing for some money rather than not go fishing at all for no money. And that’s going to take people a little bit of time to work out.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

The Canadian Press