Complete Story
08/14/2024
The Plate Quandary
Source: Ray Schultz, Publishing Insider, August 5, 2024
Here’s a problem that many of us have probably not worried about much: Antidumping and countervailing duties have been placed on imports of aluminum lithographic printing plates from Japan and China.
Very high duties of 200% for China and 87% for Japan were preliminarily imposed earlier this year. The International Trade Commission is now considering whether to allow them to continue, and will conduct a hearing on September 12.
Why should this bother publishers?
“A decision by the federal government to impose new tariffs on aluminum printing plates would threaten news publishers’ critical news-gathering missions, put American jobs at risk, and cause additional news outlets to shutter, contributing to expanding news deserts across the country,” says Danielle Coffey. president & CEO of the News/Media Alliance.
Specifically, many U.S. newsrooms use printing technology that requires violet plates that are not produced in the U.S..
The problem is that excessive duties will threaten the supply chain and that the costs will be passed on from suppliers to the publishers. Indeed, publishers are already feeling the impact, the News/Media Alliance says.
“When newspapers close, there is a community-wide negative impact – civic engagement decreases, corruption increases, and combatting misinformation becomes more difficult, which is particularly critical in an election year,” Coffey continues. “This impact is disproportionately borne by vulnerable communities, including rural communities and communities of color.”
It is hard to see the sense in these tariffs. Were they imposed to drive revenue for the government, or to punish those countries? The ITC should examine this closely and the U.S. should forego the possible income from these duties.
As Coffey says: “The news and publishing industries are already operating in a challenging economic environment and the future of quality journalism is in peril. We urge the ITC to reject new antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum printing plates, which would only accelerate the disappearance of quality local journalism, at a time when we need it more than ever.”
