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Trump's Trade Tariffs Trouble Include The Print & Paper Industry.
By AARON CERBONE.
Paper problems: In December 2017, a single paper mill in Washington petitioned the government for a tariff on Canadian groundwood paper, the very paper people are probably reading this article on.
While the steel and aluminum tariffs exclude Canada, the 10 percent newsprint tariff singles out America’s northern neighbor. The Washington-based mill, Norpac, is owned by a New York hedge fund and requested the federal government place countervailing and anti-dumping duties on imported paper from Canada.
Countervailing duties counter Canadian subsidies to Canadian paper producers, and anti-dumping duties, which will be announced on Monday, address pricing a product below either cost or market.
“We believe that this company, which is owned by a hedge fund, is just trying to get a short-term financial gain for that one mill, and what they potentially will do is harm the entire printing and publishing industry,” senior vice president of public policy for the News Media Alliance Paul Boyle said. “These tariffs actually go into place in a preliminary phase and we are already seeing increases in newsprint prices, which will have to force publishers to cut costs.”
The Enterprise’s publisher, Catherine Moore, said though the tariff will not affect buyers, it threatens publishers and small papers, which publishers contract printing from to stay in business. If newsprint gets more expensive then publishers will charge more, and customers may find cheaper printing options or not print at all.
“These little community newspapers like us around the state — that are ma and pa businesses — if they have to pay their printer more than they are bringing in in advertising revenue, they’ll go out of business,” Moore said. “There will be more jobs lost than protected by a tariff.”
The News Media Alliance has joined a coalition of printers, publishers and paper suppliers called STOPP (Stop Tariffs On Printers and Publishers) to fight the tariffs.
Ninety-two percent of Canadian newsprint comes to the Northeast and Midwest areas of America, and newsprint prices have been increasing as the industry has seen a 75 percent drop in demand with the rise of digital media. Last year, the U.S. placed 18 percent tariffs on Canadian lumber.
Moore estimated that the tariffs could raise the price of newsprint by 50 percent and Byole said it could go up $30 to $80 a ton.
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2018/03/tariffs-trouble-solar-print-businesses/
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