SPOKANE — Organizations that represent newspapers around the Northwest oppose the temporary tariffs on newsprint, which can drive up the costs of the paper some of them use by nearly a third.
Although the request for tariffs against Canadian imports of newsprint comes from owners of a Washington paper mill, the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington oppose the duties.
The North Pacific Paper Co., or NORPAC, a Longview paper mill owned by the One Rock Capital Partners hedge fund, had requested the tariffs early this year because it said it was losing business to Canadian mills that receive subsidies from their government.
But Canadian mills have been the main producer of newsprint used in the United States for years, in part because they have bigger supplies of sawdust, said Rowland Thompson of Allied Daily Newspapers, an industry association. He likened the situation to putting a tariff on Canadian maple syrup in an effort to rescue American maple syrup producers.
