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A bipartisan group of congressional representatives told the International Trade Commission on Tuesday that tariffs imposed on newsprint from Canada were costing jobs and hurting small newspapers across the United States.
Here’s a story from a Roll Call, and the AP story from the hearing.
The Nevada Press Association has been among the newspaper groups nationwide lobbying to remove the duty on uncoated groundwood, from which newsprint is made, since it was imposed in response to a complaint from a paper company in Washington state.
The rise in newsprint prices — you can read in detail here what has happened to the market over the past few months — has caused cuts in pages and editions over recent months at several newspapers. In Nevada, Sierra Nevada Media Group blamed the tariffs in part on its decision to slash print days at its properties in Carson City, Gardnerville and Fallon, the latest in a series of cutbacks by parent Swift Communications.
Here’s a chart showing the rise in prices that began in fall 2017 and has climbed sharply since the imposition of tariffs of up to 22 percent.
North Pacific Paper Company, the mill in Longview, Wash., that requested the tariff on Canadian paper shipments, said in May that it would be hiring 50 full- and part-time employees, thanks to the rising prices.
It accused Canadian mills of receiving subsidies from the government and dumping paper in the U.S., leading to the closure of 10 mills since 2012.
But newspaper industry representatives say the mills closed because of a declining market — part of the slump as readers moved to online sources of news — and not because of Canadian production.
The dispute puts the local newspaper in Longview in a tricky spot, as the Lee-owned property buys its newsprint from NORPAC. And state representatives called on the area’s congressional representative to stand up for the company.
