STOPP Coalition Meets with Senior Commerce Department Officials

BMI President Jim Fetherston, joined members of the STOPP Coalition (Stop Tariffs on Printers and Publishers) in Washington last Thursday to meet with senior officials from the Policy & Strategic Planning group of the Commerce Department. The purpose of the meeting was to register formal opposition to tariffs and duties being placed on Canadian uncoated groundwood paper imported to the United States. 

Also attending was Allan Adler, General Counsel of the Association of American Publishers, representatives for the newspaper and directory industries and Quad Graphics. 

Fetherston said, “Our objective was to present the case that imposing these duties and tariffs can potentially have devastating economic consequences on the newspaper, directory and book industries and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who work in them.”

“Book publishers and manufacturers already are facing serious supply challenges in paper availability because of consolidation and asset reallocation in the paper industry”, Fetherston added.

The Commerce Department is expected to release its decision on anti-dumping  duties on March 8. With the ITC (International Trade Commission) investigation wrapping up by May.