Help stop tariffs on newsprint

The News Media Alliance, along with other members of the Stop Tariffs on Printers and Publishers (STOPP) Coalition, are fighting the unwarranted preliminary countervailing and antidumping duties imposed this year by the Department of Commerce on Canadian imports of uncoated groundwood paper, which includes newsprint used by newspapers, printers and other publishers. Combined, these duties climb as high as 32 percent.

The government is now collecting these duties at the border, and Canadian manufacturers are already passing these new taxes on to newspapers. The Alliance has heard these tariffs have driven up newsprint prices by 20–30 percent. Newsprint supplies have tightened and some newspapers are being told that orders cannot be met.

As the International Trade Commission (ITC) begins its final investigation in this case, the Alliance and STOPP are working to stop these tariffs from becoming final.

Help Needed Now: Newspapers can help us in this fight by doing two things:

Let your readers know what is at stake by publishing the op-ed by Alliance President & CEO David Chavern, and by writing your own editorial. Newspapers such as the Tampa Bay Times and the Green Valley News have run excellent editorials outlining the damaging impact these tariffs will have on newspapers.

Contact your governor, and representatives and senators in the U.S. Congress, and ask them to request that the ITC reject these newsprint tariffs. Members of Congress will be in congressional districts/states from March 26–April 6, so this is also a good time for a personal meeting or to contact them in their local offices.

We have provided talking points on the issue that you can use in editorials or in communications with members of Congress/governors.

If your newspaper has run an editorial or has sent a letter to policymakers, let us know by sharing them with Alliance Public Policy assistant Sarah Blood.

Thank you for your support in our effort to defeat newsprint tariffs.

If you have any questions please contact Alliance Senior VP, Public Policy, Paul Boyle.