Tariffs expected to raise the price of newsprint - Entrepreneur Generations

The price of newsprint likely go up soon, though not as much as originally thought. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on Jan. 8 the first of a new round of countervailing duties on uncoated groundwood paper that range from 4.42 percent to 9.93 percent. The new duties will begin affecting Canadian paper producers on Jan. 16.

Countervailing duties are a kind of tariff levied on imported goods to offset subsidies made to producers in the exporting country. "This is the first of two announcements on duties, as the Department of Commerce is also expected to release a preliminary decision on antidumping duties on March 8. Anti-dumping duties are described as a 'protectionist tariff' that is imposed on imported goods that a domestic government believes are priced below fair market value," the Wisconsin Newspaper Association reports.

The National Newspaper Association and News Media Alliance are encouraging newsmakers to contact their Congressional representatives to protest the new duties. The U.S. International Trade Commission will conduct a final investigation on the case in late spring and is expected to reach a final decision by September.

The duties will be essentially permanent, barring a separate agreement under the North American Free Trade Agreement that eliminates them, which is not likely.

The petitioner for the new duties is the North Pacific Paper Company, which is owned by a New York hedge fund operator and has a single paper mill in Washington

"We are stunned that a single U.S. mill in Longview, Wash., has been able to manipulate the trade laws to their gain, while potentially wreaking financial havoc on newspapers and other commercial publishers across the country," said David Chavern, president and CEO of NMA, in a statement. " This decision and its associated duties likely will lead to job losses in U.S. publishing, commercial printing and paper industries."







from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2r2vcFQ Tariffs expected to raise the price of newsprint - Entrepreneur Generations

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