U.S.-imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint present a looming financial disaster for local newspapers, book publishers and commercial printers across America, testified U.S. Reps. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) and John Moolenaar (R-MI) and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) during a July 17 International Trade Commission (ITC) hearing.
“I support strong trade remedy laws that protect American jobs and industries; however, in this particular case, the tariffs are harming the very U.S. industry they are supposed to protect,” said Sen. Collins. “The tariffs will hurt the U.S. paper industry because they will cause permanent harm to newspapers, printers and book publishers, shrinking the U.S. paper industry’s customer base.”
The temporary U.S. tariffs on Canadian uncoated groundwood paper (UGW), which is used as newsprint, were imposed in January, increased in March, and could reach as high as 32 percent on some products, a cost that’s being passed on to paper companies that are already under severe economic stress, according to the lawmakers’ testimonies.
The preliminary duty rates are part of the ITC’s ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into Canada’s import of UGW, with final determinations expected to be made later this year. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection already must collect bonds or cash deposits from Canadian importers to cover estimated amounts. The hearing provided the ITC with more insight as the commission works toward issuing a final determination on the issue.
Sen. Collins and Reps. Poliquin and Moolenaar urged the ITC to consider the serious harm being caused by the tariffs in their home states of Maine and Michigan, respectively.
“In fact,” the senator testified, “the tariffs will likely lead to less production of newsprint by U.S. manufacturers as customers cut their consumption once and for all.
“This is simply not the way Congress intended the trade laws to work,” said Sen. Collins. “While the one mill that brought this petition may be able to add jobs in the short-term, it will do so at an enormous cost to jobs in the publishing and printing industries as well as in its own industry over the long term.”
In May, Sen. Collins led a bipartisan group of 29 senators in introducing the Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade (PRINT) Act of 2018, S. 2835, which would suspend the import taxes on newsprint while the U.S. Department of Commerce assesses the overall status of the nation’s printing and publishing industry. U.S. Rep. Angus King (I-ME) was among the senators who cosponsored the bill. Companion legislation, H.R. 6031, was introduced in June by U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD). Reps. Poliquin, Moolenaar and Charlie Crist (D-FL) are among the 29 cosponsors of the same-named House bill.
S. 2835 is under consideration by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, while H.R. 6031 is being considered by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Rep. Poliquin testified on Tuesday that there are thousands of businesses operating in Maine’s wood products industry that are critical to the state’s economy. “Protecting and growing Maine jobs includes making sure our trade policies are fair and Maine workers are competing on a level playing field,” the congressman told members of the ITC.
He called on them “to stand up for American and Maine workers by correcting a misguided policy that has enabled a single producer in Washington State to take advantage of manufacturers across the country, including our mills in Maine.”
Likewise, Rep. Moolenaar testified about the negative impact the federal tariffs have on hundreds of Michigan companies and more than 24,000 residents, including higher costs, fewer jobs and less pages in their local newspapers.
For example, in Greenville, Mich., the congressman said that the annual costs of the tariffs are estimated to be more than $250,000, which he testified is “simply too much for a community publisher to absorb.”
“In my hometown of Midland, the editor is worried about what the tariffs will mean for seniors in the community,” added Rep. Moolenaar.
The lawmakers’ testimonies bolster a bipartisan request made last month by numerous House members, including U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), John Faso (R-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY), and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY).
In their June 8 letter sent to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and ITC Chairman Rhonda Schmidtlein, the members urged them “to weigh the impact a remedy will have on the newspaper industry as you further deliberate during your investigation.”
The tariffs “would cause an undue burden,” especially for smaller local and regional publications that may not have the scale to weather tariffs of this kind, they wrote, and “would limit the availability of information and undermine our values to uphold a free and accessible press.”