Retaliatory tariffs could be 'devastating' to Canadian book industry: Thunder Bay bookseller

Kris Ketonen · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A Thunder Bay bookseller says the United States-Canada commercialized warfare could person devastating effects connected the Canadian publication industry.

Canada plans to enforce 25 per cent tariffs connected definite goods being imported from the United States connected April 2. The determination is simply a retaliatory 1 by Canada arsenic the commercialized warfare betwixt Canada and the United States continues.

The database of items that could perchance beryllium affected by tariffs includes books printed oregon warehoused successful the United States, said Lynne Warnick, 1 of the owners of Thunder Bay's Entershine Bookshop.

"I deliberation what astir radical don't recognize is the bulk of Canadian-published oregon Canadian-written books are warehoused or printed successful the United States astatine immoderate point," Warnick said. "So it would mean that a bulk of our books would person a 25 per cent tariff imposed connected them."

"Historically, books person been excluded from tariffs, and arsenic a retaliatory benignant of countermeasure, it seems similar we mightiness beryllium shooting ourselves successful the ft with this one," she said. "I don't deliberation this is truly going to wounded the United States, but I deliberation it could beryllium devastating to the Canadian publication industry."

In Entershine's case, Warnick said a 25 per cent tariff would mean the store would person to rise its prices connected books, "especially instantly immoderate books that we are importing from the United States."

"Our margins are already razor bladed arsenic they are," she said. "We can't sorb those costs. So they would person to beryllium passed connected to our lawsuit and that would wounded a batch of our customers, particularly the ones that are ordering for schoolhouse boards oregon schoolhouse libraries."

Warnick said the tariffs would apt beryllium "really devastating" to authors' sales, arsenic well.

"Indie publication shops enactment connected connection of mouth," she said. "We hand-sell to customers each azygous day, and our section authors cognize that we truly enactment them and speech astir them."

"If those books person tariffs connected them and go priced retired of the market, I deliberation those section authors successful peculiar are going to spot their income drop."

Thunder Bay writer Heather Dickson, who writes nether the pen sanction H. Leighton Dickson, has 10 books retired that were independently-published, and precocious signed a two-book woody with American institution Red Tower Books, an imprint of Entangled Publishing.

The archetypal of Dickson's novels for Red Tower, titled Ship of Spells, volition beryllium retired successful November.

"As an indie, for the astir part, it mightiness not impact maine directly, due to the fact that I person section printers, and if I'm doing similar a bulk print, it volition travel from amazon.ca," she said. "So that's a Canadian printing spot itself."

Dickson is acrophobic astir the interaction of immoderate imaginable tariffs connected the books she's publishing done Red Tower, however.

"That's a sizeable summation successful the outgo of a book," Dickson said. "If you're looking astatine hardcovers, which successful Canada are tin scope anyplace from similar $32 to $48 a book, adhd different 25 per cent to that."

"That's conscionable the casual math. I'm definite there's ramifications each down the enactment for the full publication industry."

But Dickson is hopeful radical volition proceed to bargain books, adjacent if the tariffs are applied.

"When it comes to these books, similar my genre of books, people, I think, volition astir apt inactive spell up and bargain the books because they emotion books," she said. "If it's costing 25 per cent more, I deliberation for the astir portion they volition inactive buy."

"That said, the full publishing manufacture has been down for the past 2 months, since January."

Both Warnick and Dickson said Canada doesn't person the printing infrastructure to grip ample people runs.

"It truly is the US oregon China," Dickson said. "And truthful you mightiness spot much concern going backmost and distant crossed the ocean."

Warnick said the contented was discussed astatine a caller gathering of the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association.

"We're trying to marque arsenic overmuch sound arsenic possible," she said. "We're asking radical to constitute to their section MPs, to taxable online however they consciousness astir this, to constitute letters to the section of finance, the curate of finance, and to conscionable marque their voices known."

"My knowing is that ... the authorities is really going to beryllium looking astatine however galore letters oregon responses they got to this proposal," Warnick said. "And it volition virtually travel down to however galore radical said no, we're opposed to this."