On Monday, June 2, the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to terminate its expedited review of the countervailing duty order on shrimp from Ecuador. The review was requested by Ecuadorian shrimp companies in an attempt to avoid the duties imposed in December of 2024 as a result of ASPA’s trade petitions. In the filing, ASPA explains that the Commerce rule governing the review was never authorized by Congress, and therefore the agency does not have the legal authority to conduct the review.

“ASPA continues to lead the fight against unfairly traded shrimp imports from Ecuador,” said Trey Pearson, the President of ASPA. “We cannot allow Ecuadorian shrimp companies to escape the duties ASPA won just last year. We look forward to working with the administration to terminate this illegal review and enforce the duties required by law.”

Just two days after ASPA’s filing, on June 4, Commerce published a request for comments on possibly eliminating the same problematic review regulation highlighted in ASPA’s letter. The request acknowledges that Commerce is not legally required to conduct the type of review Ecuadorian companies have requested. ASPA will be preparing additional comments supporting elimination of the regulation and termination of the review in order to preserve the duty relief resulting from its trade petitions.