Earlier this year, President Donald Trump’s administration imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint companies, effectively raising the price of newsprint on all United States newspaper companies.

Trump imposed tariffs acting on the complaint of one U.S. papermill, to help them compete with the lower cost of Canadian newsprint, but ended up hurting the entire industry. North Pacific Paper Company, the U.S. papermill who filed the complaint, is notably owned by New York City hedge fund One Rock Capital Partners.

The tariffs raised newsprint costs for publishers by as much as 32 percent, according to Syracuse.com. Fortunately, though, the U.S. International Trade Agency in August voted to eliminate the tariffs.

Unfortunately, the tariffs, by that point, had already done a considerable amount of damage, leading to layoffs and reduced printing in cities across the country. Hurting local newspapers and journalists is unfair to our society and bad for the U.S.

Small community newspapers became particularly vulnerable to spiked costs and were likely to feel the heat from a number of newsprint producers. From 1950 to 2005, gross U.S. newspaper revenue rose from $20 billion to $65 billion.Yet, during the past decade, revenues have fallen to $19 billion, according to the Pew Research Center. In a dying market, simple economics tells us that increased costs will lead to a recession in the industry. Fewer journalists and fewer jobs in the newspaper industry would hurt entire communities.

“The tariffs would have been like a pneumonia virus entering an elderly ward,” said Vin Crosbie, an adjunct professor and senior consultant on new media at Syracuse University.

He said that newsprint is a newspaper’s second greatest cost, after salaries and wages. Any increase in cost could “kill a notable fraction of the nation’s approximately 1,250 remaining daily papers.”

David Tyler, owner of Eagle News, the parent company of multiple local newspapers in central New York, said that he felt the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs.

“The Eagle News had a 10 percent surcharge during the period of the tariff, which was very low compared with what other publishers across the state experienced,” Tyler said.

In order to make up for the surcharge, Tyler said they had to reduce page count in some of their newspapers and delay other investments to make up for the lost money. Had the tariffs stayed, Tyler and hundreds of other community newspapers across the United States could have been forced to close their doors due to increased printing costs.

And, a bipartisan group of New York state representatives told the U.S. Department of Commerce that the tariffs threatened the employment of more than 600,000 people.

The Syracuse.com editorial board commended Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) for their effort to eliminate the tariffs. The tariffs were rightfully rejected. In doing so, newspapers across the country, including the ones we have close to home, aren’t under the incredible and unnecessary financial strain of higher print costs. Newspapers are here to stay — and that’s for the better.

Patrick Penfield is a sophomore accounting major. His column appears biweekly. He can be reached at fpen2021@syr.edu.

Published on September 12, 2018 at 9:26 pm