[Newsbot]

Title: U.S. newspapers tell hearings they're getting 'murdered' by steep tariffs imposed on Canadian newsprint
Category: Business
Posted By: DrCaleb
Date: 2018-07-18 10:21:19
Canadian

[BartSimpson]

This to me is a fine reason for the tariffs!

[bootlegga]

The ironic thing is that much of the Canadian pulp and paper industry is owned (in whole or in part) by American companies, so all this is really doing is picking winners and losers in this industry or that one.

[CharlesAnthony]

BartSimpson wrote:

This to me is a fine reason for the tariffs!

No. This is a great example of fake news that is found in a lot of commercial analysis.

Take a few steps back.
The newspaper industry is not dying because of the price of paper. Rather, the newspaper industry is dying because of lack of demand. This is not news. This has been observed a long time ago. The only people who buy newspapers are old men who still believe the cow jumped over the moon because they saw it on a graining black-and-white television show.

The tariffs are being imposed on dying industry so that the demise appears to be caused by something other than the truth. Trade "war" is kabuki theater to distract public attention. Everybody is doing it.

[CharlesAnthony]

"Blame Canada!" because of tariffs!

Quote:

At least 36% of the largest newspapers across the United States – as well as at least 23% of the highest-traffic digital-native news outlets – experienced layoffs between January 2017 and April 2018, according to the study. Among newspapers, those with the highest circulation were most likely to be affected.

The analysis comes amid a series of highly publicized staff reductions by hedge fund companies that had acquired well-known newspapers, including The Denver Post, where employees publicly criticized the cuts made by the papers’ owners.

About a third of large U.S. newspapers have suffered layoffs since 2017

[herbie]

BartSimpson wrote:

This to me is a fine reason for the tariffs!

No, this is the typical argument used to support tariffs. Like the ones on softwood lumber.
We have so fucking much lumber, wood and pulp supply NOBODY can compete. The workers producing it are earning $30-$35 an hour plus full benefits and way more vacation time. The companies producing it are paying $6 a gallon for fuel, higher taxes and carbon taxes on their emissions. And the US producers still can't compete with them.
The whole point of trade is so don't, do something else.
We don't build iPhones here, but the Chinese still have to wipe their asses.
Joe US citizen doesn't derive anywhere near the benefit from milling a 2x4 as Joe Canadian does, and even after decades of punishing tariffs, we still control the market.
FFS, take the cheap lumber, save yourselves $6000 building a house and go after some other market.
Not like you don't have opportunity, look at our stupid oil policy. We've got a province full of oil and can't even deliver it to Montreal let alone refine the shit. We proved to the world how stupid we are by paying $1.60/L and still not buying diesels, EVs, propane/LNG cars or taking transit. Sell gas instead, the outfits that do are making a killing.
Tariffs don't help anyone. Like you want to put a 500% tariff on Foxconn motherboards and iPhones thinking they'll move production to the USA?

[DrCaleb]

herbie wrote:

Joe US citizen doesn't derive anywhere near the benefit from milling a 2x4 as Joe Canadian does, and even after decades of punishing tariffs, we still control the market.

It's not about Joe Citizen. The tariffs on Softwood and now Newsprint are about the US selling off it's softwood forests to private corporations who want captive markets to make their investment worthwhile.

Free market be damned!