Trump tariffs on Canadian newsprint to be reversed
An independent trade panel on Wednesday derailed the Trump administration’s push to impose tariffs on imports of newsprint from Canada, handing a significant win to U.S. newspapers, union groups and scores of lawmakers who pressed for the change.
The 5-0 decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission marks a significant win for newspapers that were reeling from increased costs of up to 30 percent for a core product. It also removes a prominent thorn in the bilateral relationship between the United States and its northern neighbor and comes as the two countries are working to resolve differences in NAFTA talks by the end of this week.
“Today is a great day for American journalism,” said David Chavern, president and CEO of the News Media Alliance, in a statement. “The ITC’s decision will help to preserve the vitality of local newspapers and prevent additional job losses in the printing and publishing sectors.”
The ITC unanimously decided that imports of Canadian newsprint do not materially injure or threaten to injure U.S. industry. That vote will reverse the Commerce Department’s move earlier this year to impose tariffs on imports of what’s known as uncoated groundwood paper.
A petition by a Washington state-based paper company filed last year claimed that Canadian newsprint was being subsidized and sold in the U.S. at unfairly low prices. The North Pacific Paper Company, also known as NORPAC, is one of five remaining paper mills in the U.S. but was the sole petitioner in the case. It is owned by private equity firm One Rock Capital Partners, based in New York.
Government records show that a team from the private equity firm pressed the Commerce Department on the issue, including in a meeting with Secretary Wilbur Ross, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. The paper credited a former paper industry executive with close ties to Washington and Wall Street with initially getting the tariffs in place.
After an investigation — and despite significant pushback from industry and union representatives as well as dozens of members of Congress — the Commerce Department in January moved to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of newsprint ranging from 4.5 percent to 22 percent. The agency recently lowered those levels, but only moderately — a step that left both sides unhappy.
The ITC’s decision on Wednesday means that U.S. officials will stop collecting the penalties on imports and will begin refunding what importers have already paid, though that process could take several months.
Lawmakers from both parties had been lobbying and testifying against the tariffs, saying they would threaten American jobs and went against the spirit of U.S. trade law. Republican lawmakers in both chambers had introduced and built up bipartisan support for legislation that would halt the tariffs for an impact study.
“These tariffs were extremely harmful to our regional newspapers — the lifeblood of our local communities — and I worked hard to remove them,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Wednesday. “The International Trade Commission made the exactly right decision today to completely eliminate them. I will remain vigilant to make sure that they never return.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) also applauded the ITC’s “important decision.”
“Our district is home to a thriving local press corps that would be unfairly burdened by these costs, harming local journalism and the families across our district that rely on these important organizations,” she said in a statement.
Imports of the product from Canada were valued at about $1.27 billion in 2016.