Meet the Gulf shrimpers rooting on Trump's tariffs in a Texas fishing town

PALACIOS, Texas (AP) — While American consumers and markets wonder and worry about President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs, there's one group cheering him as they hope he'll prop up their sinking business: Gulf coast shrimpers.

American shrimpers have been hammered in recent years by cheap imports flooding the U.S. market and restaurants, driving down prices to the point that profits are razor thin or shrimpers are losing money and struggling to stay afloat.

Tariffs, they hope, could level the playing field and help their businesses not just survive but thrive.

“It’s been tough the last several years that we’ve tried to fight through this," said Reed Bowers, owner of Bowers Shrimp Farm in Palacios, Texas. Tough times meant difficult choices for many. "Cutting people off, laying people off, or reduce hours or reduce wages ... whatever we can do to survive."

Since 2021, the price of imported shrimp has dropped by more than $1.5 billion, according to the Southern Shrimpers Alliance trade association, causing the U.S. shrimp industry to lose nearly 50% of its market value.

The shrimpers alliance complains that the overseas industry has benefitted from billions of dollars invested in shrimp aquaculture, cheap or even forced labor, use of antibiotics banned in the U.S., and few or no environment regulations.

More than 90% of shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported, according to the alliance.

“I’m not a believer in free trade. I’m a believer fair trade,” Bowers said. "So if you’re gonna sell into the United States, I think it’s very important to get the same rules and regulations that I have to have as a farmer here in the United States.”

Craig Wallis, owner of W&W Dock & Ice, has been in the business since 1975 and noted that back then shrimpers would run their trawlers 12 months a year.

Not anymore. That's no longer affordable as Gulf shrimpers compete with cheaper product coming in from South America, China and India.

Wallis says he's only able to run his shrimp boats about half the year, yet “the bills keep coming every month.”

"We don’t get any subsidies here. We don’t need any help from the government. What we get for our product is what we have to make it on,” he said.

Wallis, who noted he voted for Trump, has watched the back-and-forth on tariffs in recent weeks.

“I don’t know where the tariffs are going to be settled at," he said, “but it’s definitely going to help."

But Trump's tariffs will also force shrimpers to balance the higher costs of equipment, such as trawl cables, webbing, chains and shackles. Some of those items have recently been increasing in price, Wallis said.

"We got be careful that there’s a good balance,” he said.

If the American shrimping industry collapses, Wallis sees a future where foreign trawlers are operating in the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the “ Gulf of America. ”

“I’m hanging on to have something when I retire,” said Wallis, who is 72. “If it keeps going like it is, it’s taken away from my retirement that I’ve worked for all my life.”

Phan Tran's family used to be shrimpers but quit the boats around 25 years ago to open Tran's Family Restaurant, a place they literally built themselves.

“It was just my dad, me and one welder,” Tran said.

Tran said he doesn't want to serve imported shrimp to his customers. He doesn't know what shortcuts foreign shrimper firms take.

“The taste, the size, you could tell the texture of the shrimp, everything. ... Domestic shrimp versus imported shrimp, you could tell the difference,” Tran said, adding he'll be buying straight from the day's catch at the dock, “as long as we have the restaurant business.”

Tariffs will help keep the market fair for local shrimpers, Tran said.

“We used to have a sign on our window here that says, ‘friends don’t let friends eat imported shrimp,’" Tran said. “And a few people got a little offended by it, so we had to take it off. (But) that's a true statement that we stand by here.”

Bowers, the shrimp farm owner, hopes seafood tariffs have a positive ripple effect across the industry for American producers.

“I think the price of imported seafood is gonna come up," he said. “And as that price comes up, it’ll make our seafood, our shrimp, more affordable for everybody else.”

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.

Bowers shrimp hatchery manager Kim Page holds a broodstock shrimp, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shrimp are prepared for shipping at the Bowers Shrimp Processing plant, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shrimp are prepared at the Bowers Shrimp Processing plant, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Reed Bowers, owner of Homegrown seafood, walks through his shrimp hatchery, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shrimp are prepared for shipping at the Bowers Shrimp Processing plant, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Homegrown seafood shrimp farm manager Nerer Padro collects samples, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Manager Ken Garcia, left, visits a shrimp boat being refurbished for their Quality Seafood fleet, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shrimp are prepared for shipping at the Bowers Shrimp Processing plant, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Bowers shrimp hatchery manager Kim Page holds a broodstock shrimp, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A shrimp boat is refurbished for Quality Seafood's fleet, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shrimp are prepared for shipping at the Bowers Shrimp Processing plant, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Craig Wallis, owner of W&W Dock and Ice sits in the captain's seat of one of his docked shrimp boats, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Ken Garcia, manager of Quality Seafood, jumps off of a friend's shrimp[p boat, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Palacios, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)