New US newsprint duties slammed

Anew round of trade tariffs coming out of the U.S. Commerce Department on Canadian-made newsprint will add addition pain for workers in an industry already reeling from softwood duties, the country’s largest private sector union says.

"No forestry sector job is safe from Donald Trump's recklessness," says Unifor National President Jerry Dias. "The Trudeau government needs to take bold and confident action to protect Canadian workers."

The Trump government levied more duties on Canadian forestry products this week, this time taking aim at newsprint. This latest tariff adds an overall tax of 6.53 per cent on about 25 Canadian mills that will affect mostly Ontario and Quebec region and comes after the contentious 20.83 per cent combined duty imposed by the U.S. on Canadian softwood lumber in 2017.

"Forestry is as important to the Canadian economy as energy," said Renaud Gagné, Unifor’s Quebec Director. "Fighting unfair trade sanctions has to be a top priority. Tens of thousands of jobs are at stake that will impact local communities, action is needed now."

Unifor is Canada's represents around 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy.

The federal government came to the aid of the softwood industry in May 2017 with a $867 million aid package, but Unifor says that is not a long-term solution for the more than 200,000 direct jobs in 650 communities across Canada.

The new tariffs come following an investigation that began in August 2017.

"Today's preliminary decision allows U.S. producers to receive relief from the market-distorting effects of potential government subsidies while taking into account the need to keep groundwood paper prices affordable for domestic consumers," said US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. "The Department of Commerce will continue to evaluate and verify the accuracy of this preliminary determination while standing up for the American business and worker."

Canada is the largest exporter of newsprint in the world, with a market dominated by Resolute Forest Products, Kruger, and Catalyst Paper Corp. of British Columbia.

The Commerce Department will make another decision on anti-dumping duties in March and the U.S. International Trade Commission will be asked to rule on the two measures in August.

In response, the Canadian federal government issued a joint statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr calling the duty rates "unjustified."

"Any duties will have a direct and negative impact on U.S. newspapers, especially those in small cities and towns, and result in job losses in the American printing sector,” the communiqué says. "We will continue to work with our forest industry, provinces and territories, and communities across Canada to defend this vital sector against unfair and unwarranted U.S. trade measures and practices."

The Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) has also come out strongly againsts the decision and is calling on the federal government to intervene in support of forest companies and communities affected by the new duties.

"While the forest industry is already feeling the impact of declining US demand for this type of paper and yet another softwood lumber crisis, this new protectionist decision by the US administration comes at the worst time possible for forest regions,” says Drummondville mayor and UMQ president Alexandre Cusson.”ottawa must act quickly to reaffirm its support for this economic sector that is critical for all Quebec."

"Canada is the largest producer of newsprint in the world. The imposition of countervailing duties on uncoated mechanical pulp will have an even more negative impact on our regions than the softwood lumber dispute, since the majority of plants are located in Quebec,” added Val d’or mayor and Chair of the UMQ Forest Committee..”thousands of jobs will be directly involved as a result of this decision ."