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Jeff Mayo had been preparing for this for weeks. In February, when President Donald Trump first announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, Mayo, a third-generation newspaper printer in Oklahoma, put in an order of Canadian paper.
But by the time the tariffs actually went into effect last week—if only temporarily—his careful planning wasn’t of much use. As printers and manufacturers scrambled to secure raw materials before the price went up, trucking shortages delayed shipments for everyone. “Even if we had the paper ready, we couldn’t get it on a truck,” Mayo told CJR last week, before the tariffs were once again suspended, until April 2. “Everyone’s trying to do the same thing.”
Canada has long been a major supplier of American newsprint—it now provides an estimated 80 percent of the paper used by US newspapers. A tariff would add a significant burden to publishers already struggling with high costs of production and thin margins, and analysts say the mere looming threat of one has complicated life for printers. “There is no scenario under which this is cost-positive for the media industry,” said Brett House, a professor of professional practice at the Columbia Business School. “Almost anything that is done here is going to be increasing prices for newsprint.”
John Galer, the publisher of the Journal-News in Hillsboro, Illinois, said the new tariffs represent more than just a financial setback. He publishes eight newspapers and prints nineteen other publications at his press, serving rural communities that often have no other dedicated source of news. His publications rely entirely on Canadian newsprint, and he estimates a 25 percent tariff would increase his costs by about twenty thousand dollars a year, forcing him to increase his prices. “I like to stay hopeful,” he said. “But right now, we’re all just waiting to see what happens next.” (Galer learned of the postponement of the tariffs from a text message as we were speaking on the phone. “I don’t get it,” he muttered.)
The last time the US imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint, the consequences were severe. In 2018, a single American paper manufacturer petitioned for duties on Canadian imports, arguing that unfair subsidies gave Canadian mills an advantage. The resulting tariffs sent newsprint prices soaring, forcing newspapers, especially smaller, independent publishers, to make painful cuts. Some laid off staff. Others reduced page counts or eliminated print days altogether. A few publications shut down entirely.
The newspaper industry fought back, with the National Newspaper Association and other advocacy groups mobilizing to overturn the tariffs. Legislators testified before the International Trade Commission, warning that rising costs were accelerating the decline of local journalism. After months of lobbying and legal challenges, the tariffs were lifted. But the damage had already been done. The price hikes never fully reversed, and many of the cuts newspapers made to stay afloat became permanent.
Now newspaper publishers like Mayo, whose company Cookson Hills Publishers prints eight newspapers serving mostly rural communities across eastern Oklahoma, find themselves stuck in limbo, forced to make financial decisions for a future they can’t predict. “Unfortunately, it’s a waiting game,” Mayo said.
Martha Diaz Aszkenazy, the chairperson of the National Newspaper Association and publisher of the ten-thousand-circulation San Fernando Valley Sun, says the entire industry is feeling shaken by the current policy roller coaster. “It’s not only tariffs that are affecting us, it’s also the uncertainty,” she said. “It’s affecting our customers who are, for instance, holding back from making decisions about advertising.
“I just don’t know why we are doing this,” she said. “It seems like instead of making America great, we’re just making America scared.”
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