Your community newspaper and newspapers across America are in a crisis. Proposed tariffs on newsprint would significantly impact costs to publication, which will have negative effects on how readers receive news.
The federal government, in attempting to forward policy it believes will alter past trade agreements, has proposed duties and tariffs on numerous raw materials that are key to production in almost every industry.
Chief among the proposed tariffs that impact the newspaper industry are countervailing (CV) duties and anti-dumping (AD) duties on imports of Canadian uncoated groundwood papers. This includes newsprint. These duties add 32 percent to the cost of newsprint to newspapers long-term.
The Monroe Times supports the STOPP Coalition, which is asking the International Trade Commission and United States Congress to reject these tariffs and protect jobs.
These preliminary duties, which were assessed by the Department of Commerce in January and March, are the result of a petition filed by one company, North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC). Publishers and newspaper industry insiders have considered NORPAC's action, as an outlier in the paper industry, and believe it is using current popular beliefs about past trade agreements for its own financial gain.
Paper goods are traded between both Canada and the United States. The United States is well established at creating certain types of paper for consumer and business use. It trades these types of paper to Canada. Meanwhile, Canada is similarly well established at creating certain types of paper for consumer and business use. It trades these types of paper to the United States. Because a level of fair trade exists in paper products, tariffs and duties are unnecessary and simply create a trade war between the United States and Canada. This is similar to other industries that import Canadian steel, which can point to equal exports from the United States to Canada of other steel products. The tariffs and duties involved create extensive costs beyond normal business costs. These additional costs must be absorbed somewhere in the industry's business model. End additional costs are almost always passed on to the consumer.
As our editorial page has pointed out repeatedly, the effective buying income of the average American worker has remained stagnant over 50 years. Newspaper publishers can't see the ability to raise subscription costs to readers by significant amounts to pay for unnecessary tariffs. We side with consumers noting that newspapers have traditionally done everything to keep their costs to consumers low as they compete with other emerging media.
People who feel insulated from decisions in Washington, D.C., are going to see an immediate change in the newspaper industry as it scrambles to cover costs regarding these new duties and tariffs. Newspapers will have to address their frequency of publication, the dedication of news in papers versus advertising and how they use other technology, specifically websites, to publish news.
We urge readers to contact their congressman and senators to help stop baseless newsprint tariffs. Perhaps the most difficult thing to explain to readers is as long as forces in Washington, which support such tariffs and duties, are in power, this issue will not go away. Even if reversed this year, it's sure to return again next year. It's much like the Wisconsin newspaper industry's constant vigilance to protect public notices in paid-circulation newspapers. Not only is this key to protecting the public's right to know, it has also become an important revenue stream for newspapers, which have overhead tied to gathering government news.
Many newspapers are fighting a good fight on behalf of the public to protect their right to know while delivering other news, feature, photo, entertainment, sports and community-related content. According to a recent survey from Pulse Research Inc., 92.4 percent of Wisconsinites read their local newspapers at least weekly, if not more frequently. In the past 30 days, 61 percent of consumers looked to their local newspaper to make purchasing decisions. And 85 percent of these readers find their newspapers easy to read and provide news coverage ranging from "good" to "excellent."
These unnecessary tariffs and duties could derail our No. 1 source for local news in rural agricultural communities across Wisconsin and the nation.
For more information on the issue and STOPP's efforts, go online to www.stopnewsprinttariffs.org.
The federal government, in attempting to forward policy it believes will alter past trade agreements, has proposed duties and tariffs on numerous raw materials that are key to production in almost every industry.
Chief among the proposed tariffs that impact the newspaper industry are countervailing (CV) duties and anti-dumping (AD) duties on imports of Canadian uncoated groundwood papers. This includes newsprint. These duties add 32 percent to the cost of newsprint to newspapers long-term.
The Monroe Times supports the STOPP Coalition, which is asking the International Trade Commission and United States Congress to reject these tariffs and protect jobs.
These preliminary duties, which were assessed by the Department of Commerce in January and March, are the result of a petition filed by one company, North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC). Publishers and newspaper industry insiders have considered NORPAC's action, as an outlier in the paper industry, and believe it is using current popular beliefs about past trade agreements for its own financial gain.
Paper goods are traded between both Canada and the United States. The United States is well established at creating certain types of paper for consumer and business use. It trades these types of paper to Canada. Meanwhile, Canada is similarly well established at creating certain types of paper for consumer and business use. It trades these types of paper to the United States. Because a level of fair trade exists in paper products, tariffs and duties are unnecessary and simply create a trade war between the United States and Canada. This is similar to other industries that import Canadian steel, which can point to equal exports from the United States to Canada of other steel products. The tariffs and duties involved create extensive costs beyond normal business costs. These additional costs must be absorbed somewhere in the industry's business model. End additional costs are almost always passed on to the consumer.
As our editorial page has pointed out repeatedly, the effective buying income of the average American worker has remained stagnant over 50 years. Newspaper publishers can't see the ability to raise subscription costs to readers by significant amounts to pay for unnecessary tariffs. We side with consumers noting that newspapers have traditionally done everything to keep their costs to consumers low as they compete with other emerging media.
People who feel insulated from decisions in Washington, D.C., are going to see an immediate change in the newspaper industry as it scrambles to cover costs regarding these new duties and tariffs. Newspapers will have to address their frequency of publication, the dedication of news in papers versus advertising and how they use other technology, specifically websites, to publish news.
We urge readers to contact their congressman and senators to help stop baseless newsprint tariffs. Perhaps the most difficult thing to explain to readers is as long as forces in Washington, which support such tariffs and duties, are in power, this issue will not go away. Even if reversed this year, it's sure to return again next year. It's much like the Wisconsin newspaper industry's constant vigilance to protect public notices in paid-circulation newspapers. Not only is this key to protecting the public's right to know, it has also become an important revenue stream for newspapers, which have overhead tied to gathering government news.
Many newspapers are fighting a good fight on behalf of the public to protect their right to know while delivering other news, feature, photo, entertainment, sports and community-related content. According to a recent survey from Pulse Research Inc., 92.4 percent of Wisconsinites read their local newspapers at least weekly, if not more frequently. In the past 30 days, 61 percent of consumers looked to their local newspaper to make purchasing decisions. And 85 percent of these readers find their newspapers easy to read and provide news coverage ranging from "good" to "excellent."
These unnecessary tariffs and duties could derail our No. 1 source for local news in rural agricultural communities across Wisconsin and the nation.
For more information on the issue and STOPP's efforts, go online to www.stopnewsprinttariffs.org.
