CHICAGO, October 13, 2025 — The legal arm of the National Restaurant Association has filed a lawsuit in collaboration with members of the fishing industry to stop the Trump Administration from severely limiting imports of seafood starting Jan. 1.
The coalition contends that the restaurant industry will be unable to source enough seafood if imports from 12 more nations are banned on that date. The affected countries provide "the vast majority” of seafood sold in U.S. food-away-from-home industry, according to the NRA’s Restaurant Law Center.
“Without access to these products, many restaurants will be forced to remove popular seafood items from their menus, raise prices, or worse—close their doors," said Angelo Amador, Executive Director of the Law Center.
Imports from the 12 countries would be banned because a study by the Administration found the source nations are not doing as much as the U.S. to promote seafood sustainability. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency usually associated with weather tracking, says it has the authority under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to limit or ban imports from those sources.
Fish from 36 other nations have already been outlawed under the conservation-minded MMPA. But critics of the ban’s expansion say the new limits have been imposed to protect the U.S.’s fishing industry, not ocean wildlife. Adhering to the MMPA carries a cost that fishermen and processors in the allegedly laggard nations don’t have to cover.
The 12 other countries were added to the list just four months ago, leaving the industry with too little time to explore sourcing alternatives, according to the coalition’s lawsuit.
What’s more, it asserts, the limits were proposed by NOAA without much warning or discussion with stakeholders.
"This is not about opposing the Marine Mammal Protection Act—we support its goals," said Amador. "But NOAA's rushed and opaque implementation is poised to devastate seafood supply chains that restaurants across the country rely on.”
The lawsuit is the latest effort from the National Restaurant Association to temper the impact of Trump’s international trade policies on the restaurant business. After the White House imposed tariffs on imports from virtually every nation, Association CEO Michelle Korsmo sent a letter to the White House, asking that foods and beverages be excluded from the import duties.
A similar request was delivered to a key Trump trade advisor several months later.
The Law Center is joined in the legal action by the National Fisheries Institute, seafood processors, and importers.
The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, the same legal body that declared earlier this year that the White House lacked the authority to impose the tariffs. An appeals court upheld the ruling, but the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a second appeal.
That appeals case is scheduled to begin on Nov. 5.
Severe limits on imports of popular fish varieties would further roil a supply chain that’s already being strained by Trump’s tariffs, which are intended to foster domestic production of materials that are currently brought into the U.S. from other nations.
Suppliers and operators report problems in sourcing products that can’t be produced in the U.S., like coffee. The wholesale cost of coffee jumped 21% as a result in August, according to a federal price-monitoring group.
About 80% of the seafood consumed in the United States is imported, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The nation imported about $20.3 billion more in seafood than it collected from exporting fish in 2023, the agency said.
As Managing Editor for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, Romeo is responsible for generating the group's news and feature content. He brings more than 40 years of experience in covering restaurants to the position.