Senators called for the protection against newsprint tariffs with the Protecting Rational Incentives in Newsprint Trade Act of 2018, otherwise known as the "PRINT Act".
The act would halt current tariffs from Canadian groundwood paper and also require the Department of Commerce to review publishing and printing industries and research what the consequences of the tariffs would be to both industries and the nation economically. While the review continues, the act would suspend all paper tariffs. Any industry that relies on this kind of paper is already seeing the economic effects, including staff layoffs and rising costs to operate businesses. The Department of Commerce will make its final decision on Aug. 2.
Senators in support of the legislation raised their concerns for the jobs that will be lost due to the tariffs, the companies that will go out of business and the loss of access to information for the general public that will result. The act aims to provide relief for companies that rely on paper while the Department of Commerce makes a decision on the tariffs. Once the decision is made, legislators feel they will have a better understanding of why the decision was made, but in the meantime newspapers and other companies should not be punished.
For a more complete list of what the Print Act aims to do read the full story.