EDITORIAL
Tariffs have been in the news lately but this isn’t about the big-name ones, steel and aluminum.
First, let’s be clear what a tariff is. It’s a tax on something. It’s not necessarily meant to be a revenue producer, although it obviously generates some.
Its main objective is to “protect,” to make someone else’s goods more expensive so that consumers will naturally buy the less expensive product offered by the beneficiary of the tariff.
While the steel and aluminum tariffs—which this editorial will not address—have garnered the headlines, there has been another tariff imposed this year and it’s under the radar for just about everyone not associated with the newspaper business.
A tariff, which grew to as high as 22 percent in March, on Canadian imports of “untreated groundwood paper,” such as newsprint has sent some shock waves through the community newspaper industry.
You’re reading one.
Tony Smithson, vice-president of printing for Bliss Communications, said community papers could see an 8 to 10 percent increase in production costs in the short term.
It’s no secret newspapers of all sizes are attempting to compete with digital news organizations. Most newspapers, including The Reporter, have their own digital, online, editions.
But guess what? If the print version goes away, so does the digital version. According to the National Newspaper Association (NNA), hard copy advertising and readership provides more than 90 percent of the revenue that enables a digital newspaper to exist.
It’s not like there was a grass roots outcry from American newsprint manufacturers for tariff protection. The industry organization for U. S. paper producers, The American Forest & Paper Association, does not support the case which led to the tariffs being imposed.
Here’s what happened.
There are seven newsprint producers in the U.S. One of the smallest, the North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC) in Washington state complained Canadian producers were allegedly receiving government assistance and were selling paper in the U.S. too cheaply when compared to the price in other nations.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating those claims and while tariffs were slapped on Canada in January, and again in March, it’s not a done deal just yet.
Tariffs are collected at the Canadian border and are being held in escrow until the final findings are complete.
Damage is already being done. Newsprint prices are going up and demand is going down.
The NNA has mobilized to try to enlist Congress to provide a solution before the situation reaches a point of no return.
Frankly, once tariffs are imposed they usually don’t go away unless there’s some overwhelming political motivation.
Where does that leave the community newspaper? Where it always does, faced with the challenge of coming up with even more creative ways to cut costs while still providing the same quality product.—M.B.
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