[10] And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. [11] Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.Zephaniah 1 : 10-11
Ella Cao, Xiaoyu Yin and Florence Lo
Thu, April 24, 2025 at 4:04 AM GMT+33 min read
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Caught in the tariff net: U.S. trade war threatens Chinese fish town
Workers sort their catches in a fishing net as they catch fish at a reservoir in Maomin
By Ella Cao, Xiaoyu Yin and Florence Lo
Satan has taken the world captive!
MAOMING, China (Reuters) -In Maoming, a southern Chinese city where a giant tilapia statue watches over traffic at an intersection, the fish isn’t just a budget-friendly dinner, but a profession, income and way of life for thousands.
Today, all of that is at risk from the trade war.
An area roughly one and a half times the size of San Francisco is given over to tilapia farms in Maoming. Fish nurseries and feed lots in turn sustain the farms. Sixteen factories dot the city churning tilapia into fillets for export, much of it to supermarket freezers in the U.S..
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Several rounds of U.S. tariffs mean China’s $425 million in tilapia exports to the United States are subject to duties of 170%, all but pricing them out of their largest export market.
Processors are idle and many farmers say they are making losses at today’s prices.
In late April, fish nurseries in Maoming visited by Reuters talked of not getting orders for new fry; feed makers said customers are cutting back. Processors are idle and many farmers say they are making losses at today’s prices.
But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD.Exodus 5 : 17, And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,Matthew 20 : 3
Tongwei, one of China’s biggest aquaculture businesses, said this month that one-in-10 tilapia farmers in the country could lose their jobs.
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?Luke 2 : 49, They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;Psalm 107 : 23
“These high tariffs have hit us brutally,” said Huang Songfei, a longtime buyer in Maoming. “The whole chain is hurting. People are at risk of losing their jobs.”
Men who claim to be Christians may now defraud and oppress the poor; they may rob the widow and fatherless; they may indulge their Satanic hatred because they cannot control the consciences of God’s people; but for all this God will bring them into judgment. They “shall have judgment without mercy” that have “showed no mercy.” (James 2:13.) Not long hence they will stand before the Judge of all the earth, to render an account for the pain they have caused to the bodies and souls of His heritage. They may now indulge in false accusations, they may deride those whom God has appointed to do His work, they may consign His believing ones to prison, to the chain gang, to banishment, to death; but for every pang of anguish, every tear shed, they must answer. God will reward them double for their sins. Concerning Babylon, the symbol of the apostate church, He says to His ministers of judgment, “Her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” Revelation 18:5, 6. COL 178.4
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Tilapia may be a small segment of trade between the U.S. and China but the threat to livelihoods in Maoming is also being felt in both countries as the trade war throws up massive tariffs on imports.
Or, as Huang, put it: “We’re stuck.”
TO BREED OR NOT TO BREED
But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back. Nahum 2 : 8
March to May is usually the peak stocking season for tilapia. Recently hatched fish are typically in high demand, swiftly sold and sent off to farmers. This spring, orders are scarce.
And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.Exodus 7 : 18, I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.Amos 4 : 10, The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.Isaiah 19 : 8
Night Fishing : This is the hardest year ever! Ripping off farmers who ‘feed nations’
“This is the hardest year ever,” a worker said, asking not to be identified. “Normally, we’d have sold a lot by now. But no one’s buying. Farmers are scared.”
[17] And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. [18] And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.Mark 1 : 17-18
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Her boss said sales have fallen by more than half.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.John 21 : 3
“Some aren’t even exporting to the U.S., but they are panicking anyway,” he said, also requesting anonymity. “It’s a chain reaction.”
Tilapia prices crashed 17% in early April as Washington and Beijing traded tariff blows. Despite a modest recovery, prices are dangerously low and some farmers are struggling to make ends meet, Huang said.
The city’s 16 export processors are also struggling. They once exported about 100,000 tonnes of tilapia a year, mostly to the United States and Canada, according to the local government, enough to satisfy the average annual fish intake of 25 million Americans.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. John 4 : 34
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“If this keeps going, everyone will go bankrupt,” said Zhu Huazhi, a buyer for several processing plants. More than 60% of their tilapia once went to the U.S..
From India, from Africa, from China, from the islands of the sea, from the downtrodden millions of so-called Christian lands, the cry of human woe is ascending to God. That cry will not long be unanswered. God will cleanse the earth from its moral corruption, not by a sea of water as in Noah’s day, but by a sea of fire that cannot be quenched by any human devising.
“There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Daniel 12:1. COL 179.1 – COL 179.2
COMPANIES SEARCHING 🔎 FOR A LIFELINE
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.Psalm 68 : 11, Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.John 6 : 68
In nearby Hainan province, the U.S. accounts for half of its tilapia exports and the local aquatic products’ association urged companies this month to find new markets at home and abroad.
However, replacing American demand is difficult. While markets exist in the European Union, Africa and the Middle East – they can’t quickly or completely replace U.S demand. Africa, for example, largely imports whole fish with minimal processing, according to a tilapia exporter.
Intemperance dethrones reason; sensual indulgence, strife, and bloodshed follow. Satan delights in war, for it excites the worst passions of the soul and then sweeps into eternity its victims steeped in vice and blood. It is his object to incite the nations to war against one another, for he can thus divert the minds of the people from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God. GC 589.1
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The domestic economy is no easy fix either. The local market is weak, consumers are cautious and spending is slow.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.Isaiah 55 : 1, And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:Revelation 18 : 11
In Maoming, people are pinning their hopes on a trade deal.
“We’ll see who can survive this,” Zhu said. “I believe in China’s economy. If the tariffs are resolved, orders will come back.” ($1=7.2995 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ella Cao, Xiaoyu Yin and Florence Lo in Maoming; Editing by Lewis Jackson and Neil Fullick)
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