February 14, 2018
AAP Joins the STOPP Coalition to Oppose Price-Raising Tariffs
AAP has joined the News Media Alliance, Book Manufacturers Institute, Printing Industries of America and other organizations in the Stop Tariffs on Printers and Publishers (STOPP) Coalition to oppose the imposition of price-raising tariffs on imported Canadian Uncoated Groundwood (“UGW”) paper. AAP and the Coalition believe that adding U.S. duties on the imported UGW paper based on alleged trade abuses will harm publishers, printers and other users of the product by ultimately raising the price of competing domestic paper.
Last September, the independent U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) initiated “anti-dumping” and “countervailing duties” investigations based on petitions from a single U.S. paper producer — North Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC) — to determine whether any U.S. injury has been materially injured by imports of Canadian UGW paper that were allegedly sold in the U.S. at less than fair value due to subsidization of the production of such paper by the Canadian Government. In January, months after the ITC issued a preliminary finding of such material injury, the ITA announced its preliminary findings of illegal subsidization by the Canadian Government. Yet, other than NORPAC, the U.S. companies that compete with the Canadian producers and exporters of UGW paper believe that diminishing purchases of their products are due to the continuing transition of media to digital formats since 2000 rather than to any Canadian trade violations.
“We believe that, if the U.S. imposes tariffs that raise the price of Canadian UGW paper imports, U.S. producers of the like domestic paper product can be expected to raise their own prices as well. Other than a single U.S. paper producer, the U.S. newspaper and book publishers, and the U.S. printers who manufacture their paper-based products, all stand united to oppose the imposition of such U.S. tariffs on the Canadian imports,” said Allan Adler, General Counsel and Executive Vice President of the Association of American Publishers.
A final determination by the ITC is expected in July on whether any U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of the Canadian UGW paper import, but only if the ITA’s final determination on illegal subsidization by the Canadian Government is affirmative. AAP will continue to monitor these proceedings on behalf of its members, who are customers of UGW paper producers for mass market paperbacks and other products.