U.S. newspapers face new crisis as trade spat poised to raise Canadian newsprint prices
Newsprint prices have jumped since October to a three-year high and may keep increasing if, as expected, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump slaps duties on imported paper from Canada next month. America’s northern neighbour accounts for about three-quarters of what gets used in the U.S., from the Wall Street Journal to local news providers such as the Idaho Press-Tribune.
The higher costs will squeeze U.S. newspapers already coping with 28 straight years of declining circulation and increased competition from the internet. Many publications have closed as print-advertising revenue plunged 80 per cent since 2005. The New York Times Co. alone spent $72 million (U.S.) last year on newsprint, or 5 per cent of operating costs. But the biggest impact may be at the hundreds of smaller papers with fewer financial resources.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is scheduled to announce in January whether it will impose preliminary countervailing duties on Canadian imports of uncoated groundwood paper, used in everything from book publishing to newsprint. It’s the latest dispute between the two countries, which have a growing list of trade spats that also includes dairy products and softwood lumber.
If duties are imposed, Canadian newsprint exporters will have to boost prices, causing immediate hardship for smaller U.S. publications that operate on thin margins, said Paul Boyle, senior vice-president of public policy at the Arlington, Va.-based News Media Alliance. The group represents almost 2,000 news organizations from the Journal Star in Peoria, Ill., to the New York Times.
https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/12/28/us-newspapers-face-new-crisis-as-trade-spat-poised-to-raise-canadian-newsprint-prices.html
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