Todd Bishop
The US government is adding tariffs on the remaining US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods. Publishers who attended the US-to-China tariff increase hearing on Tuesday (18th) warned that if the trade war escalates, the US book market will be seriously affected, and even the Bible will be in short supply.
According to “Bloomberg” on Wednesday (19th), the US publishers who attended the “US $300 billion tariff on China” hearing said that if the government imposed tariff increases on China, then the book including the Bible. The cost of printing will increase dramatically, and there will be a shortage of supply in the book market at that time. Some of them refer to the increase in the cost of printing the Bible as the Bible tax.
Mark Schoenwald, chief executive of HarperCollins, a New York-based globally renowned publishing company, says a 25% additional tariff rate will increase the cost and difficulty of printing the Bible, leading to a shortage of books. This has damaged the interests of churches, churches, and religious groups. This is something that the US government has not considered. Therefore, do not impose a “Bible Tax” on religious groups and the public.
Some publishers pointed out that the children’s book market is greatly affected
Stan Jantz, president of the American Christian Evangelical Publishing Association (ECPA), pointed out that religious people are well aware of the current US government’s support for regional religious freedom, so the government should also guarantee the freedom of the public to obtain religious supplies.
At the same time, many publishers pointed out that a new round of punitive tariff measures will have a greater impact on the US children’s book market.
According to the data, the world’s largest Bible printer is currently established in the Mainland, the Ed Printing Company, was established in 1988. As of October 2016, it has produced more than 70 regions or countries around the world, printing 155 million Bibles and producing about 3.5 million copies per year.
Insufficient printing capacity in the United States has appeared in the 1980s
Daniel Reynolds, chief executive of New York-based publisher Workman, said that Chinese printing companies have an advantage in equipment because they can be printed with waterproof and non-toxic printed materials, which is what children’s books need.
According to Jamie Fiocco, president of the American Association of Booksellers (ABA), about a quarter of the members of the association are currently printed by Chinese printers, and the printing channels for the Bible and children’s books are large. The extent depends on China.
Luisa Simpson, vice president of the American Publishers Association (AAP), said that the lack of capacity in the US printing houses had already occurred in the 1980s due to lower gross margins in the printing industry.
It is understood that a total of 48 representatives of US companies were invited to attend the hearing held on the 18th of the 18th, and almost all paper printing products were included in the US$300 billion tariff list issued to China.
