Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Fantagraphics, Marvel Comics, Vault | Tagged: canada, tariffs

USA Imposes New Tariffs On Canada, Mexico & China, Including On Comics

The USA imposes new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and yes, that includes the printing, distribution and selling of comic books.

Since American President Donald Trump paused the threatened taxes and tariffs against American importers of Canadian and Mexican goods earlier in the year, and importers from China got away with just a 10% tariff, the fact that this was a delay rather than a cessation was an inconvenient truth that many tried to dismiss. Tariffs weren't mentioned much at the recent ComicsPRO retailer summit. Surely a deal could be done in time? But today, it is no longer impossible to ignore the fact that the USA imposed 25% tariffs across the board against Canada and Mexico and increased the China tariff to 20%.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a retaliatory statement saying that "Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered. Should American tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective 12:01 a.m. EST tomorrow, respond with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion of American goods – starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products in 21 days' time. Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures. While we urge the U.S. administration to reconsider their tariffs, Canada remains firm in standing up for our economy, our jobs, our workers, and for a fair deal. Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs. Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term."

China has imposed a 15 per cent tariff on imported chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton, while a 10 per cent tariff will be imposed on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. According to the US Department of Agriculture, China accounted for 17 percent of American agricultural exports in 2023. Beijing also placed 25 American firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds.

How will these taxes and tariffs affect American comic book stores?

Most comic books read in America are printed in Canada, close to the paper mill logging forests, and most large collections are printed in China. In January, Gina Gagliano at the Comics Journal cited many publishers on the issues they are facing regarding taxes and tariffs at the border.

Eric Reynolds, VP and Associate Publisher at Fantagraphics, said, "Even if we could find printers domestically who could do a lot of the higher-end, hardcover visual art books that we do, they would cost roughly twice as much or more as the same book would cost to print overseas, our options in terms of paper and printing/binding would be limited, and the quality would likely suffer as well… I read somewhere that there hasn't been a new paper mill built in the U.S. in something like 35 years and that the number of existing paper mills is a small fraction of U.S. printing's 20th-century heyday."

Avi Ehrlich, the publisher of Silver Sprocket, said, "The decision to print overseas isn't just about cost (though they are cheaper), but really about quality and options. We haven't been able to find domestic printers able to offer the quality and options available from printers overseas, such as the high quality interesting paper stocks, binding options, and unique foils that make our books stand out. We used to print primarily in Canada and finally moved most of our printing overseas after a series of very frustrating quality issues and delays due to North American printers simply not having all of the resources available under one roof to efficiently and correctly make books with the quality we want to be producing."

Josh O'Neill, publisher of Beehive Books, said, "I just know for our odd business, there's no manufacturing capacity to do books like these in America, and that capacity could not be easily rebuilt. It's less about labor costs than the machines and expertise just not existing to do high end book publishing. Printing overseas is often quicker than domestically, even with the long shipping times, because printing domestically often means one printer handling the covers, another handling a special cover effect, and a third printing the text block (inside pages), which introduces so many extra opportunities for mistakes and delays as the project is moved between different printers."

Leyla Aker, Director of Publishing at Square Enix Manga and Books, said, "Aside from tariffs on finished books printed in other countries, the other area of concern would be tariffs on paper, which would have the potential to affect titles printed in the U.S. as well."

And Damien Wassel, Publisher of Vault Comics, said "While this environment may benefit American printers, it will harm smaller American publishers disproportionately in relation to larger publishers. Print costs are extremely scale sensitive. Publishers who are producing work with larger print runs will still be able to find margin without making significant changes to their publishing operations or strategies. Smaller publishers simply will not have that luxury."

When the plans were initially announced, Bleeding Cool looked at the likely impact on monthly superhero comics, and those issues haven't gone away. They are expected to have a greater impact on DC Comics than Marvel, as DC is more likely to print in Canada, though both have long-term printing contracts. We also looked at how  Bad Idea Comics' recent Hank Howard Pizza Detective campaign could result in a two hundred thousand loss for the publisher due to the tariffs. Alien Books' Matias Timarchi told us that the tariffs were likely going to lead to an increase in the price of single-issue comic books by at least a dollar. and that this could be the end of the $4.99 comic book and that they had changed everything about their plans to relaunch the Valiant Universe.

However, Bleeding Cool also got the scoop that Transcontinental Inc., the biggest comic book printer in North America, based across Canada, has made the move to cover the cost of tariffs on the comics they print for ninety days after the tariffs have been imposed. That effectively puts a three-month delay on the impact these taxes and tariffs are going to have on comic book publishers such as DC Comics, Marvel, Image and many much smaller companies while taking a massive whack in the process. It is not an exaggeration to say that Transcontinental may have just saved a number of comic publishers and comic book stores from going bust with one move. Now, obviously, not even a printer as big as Transcontinental Inc. can indefinitely subsidise the American comic book market. But three months may be enough to keep the plates spinning until a more permanent solution can be found—or at least a less temporary one.

Is there an upside for the American economy?

The US stock market fell significantly after – even during – the announcement. But not everyone sees the impact of tariffs so badly. Comic book retailer Regan Clem of Summit Comics & Games in Michigan has a different take from  wider picture, citing stories from Reuters saying "Honda to produce next Civic in Indiana, not Mexico, due to US tariffs" and from the AP "Apple announces $500 billion investment in US amid tariff threats", stating "I don't think these stories are getting any attention. Bringing jobs to American workers is caring about the working class" and adding "I'm old enough to remember when Democrats were for tariffs and protecting American jobs."

However, Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics states, "I wish there was an infrastructure here that tariffs would kickstart, but there just isn't. It's not like there are paper mills and printing presses just waiting to have the lights turned back on. Even if the tariffs spurred a long-term investment in paper and printing, with new mills and presses being built, it would take years, and a lot of publishers may well go out of business before that bears fruit. It could be quite disastrous."

Opportunities for comic book smugglers

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!