News Releases

Sen. Moran Applauds ITC’s Reversal of Canadian Newsprint Tariffs

Moran introduced legislation to suspend newsprint tariffs & urged administration to reconsider position

Aug 30 2018

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) released the following statement after the International Trade Commission (ITC) yesterday overturned the decision by the Department of Commerce to impose tariffs on Canadian newsprint:
 
“Canadian newsprint tariffs have already caused layoffs in newsrooms across our state, making it more difficult for newspapers to get timely news to Kansans in a time where the truth matters more than ever before. As I’ve traveled across the state meeting with Kansans, I have had numerous discussions with reporters, editors and publishers who have expressed how damaging these tariffs have been to their workforce and budgets. I am pleased the ITC today reversed the newsprint tariffs and I will continue working with my colleagues to urge the administration to consider the consequences to Kansas businesses before implementing tariffs.”
 
In May, Sen. Moran joined a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade Act of 2018 (PRINT Act) to suspend import taxes on uncoated groundwood paper while the Department of Commerce examines the health of – and the effects on – the printing and publishing industry.
 
In January, Sen. Moran joined a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues in writing to the administration expressing their concern regarding a then-pending trade investigation involving imported newsprint and other commercial printing papers used by local newspapers and across the country.

More information regarding the tariffs:
  • The Department of Commerce initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in late 2017 into the Canadian uncoated groundwood paper industry on behalf of a single domestic paper mill, which is used by newspapers, book publishers and numerous other commercial printers in the United States. The import taxes were as high as 32 percent on some products, passing that cost on to printers, book publishers and newspapers that are already under severe economic stress. 
  • Nearly all of the U.S. paper industry opposes these import taxes, including the large trade association representing the industry, the American Forest and Paper Association, because the Department of Commerce’s action threatens to decimate the paper industry’s customers and injure printers and publishers.

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