News broke this week after intense anxiety in the comics industry (even around the world) over the effects of price increases due to tariffs, and indeed, published books are exempt from the 104% tariff set by goods just imported from China.
The CBLDF director actually discussed this last week Jeff TrexlerIn a long blog post, Why Trump’s tariffs shouldn’t apply to graphic novels, comics and comics: The Ban Connection (Page 2). (You can read Part 1 here.) Trexler is a lawyer, and this is a very technical breakdown that states that the pre-existing exemptions still apply:
However, IEPA’s exemption of publications and other informational materials is intended to exempt the free expression of constitutional protection, regardless of the format or medium. As noted in the House Report on the revised version of the 1994 Original Act, Congress enacted Section 1702(b)(3) to prevent the President from imposing any restrictions on “direct or indirect information” on “import or export of information protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution”. “The incitement incident was President Reagan’s embargo on Cuba in the mid-1980s that prohibited unlicensed imports of printed materials by mail or in person. The impact of this embargo went beyond political propaganda. The government seized on novels, newspapers, magazines and other materials sent from its home country to ordinary people.
It sounds reasonable, but I’m sure you’ve seen this: the current president doesn’t believe in precedents, stops and balances, previous laws or his own beliefs, and the Supreme Court doesn’t completely disagree with him. Therefore, the idea of enforcing pre-existing laws seems to be wishful thinking.
However, it is still the law at the moment. Trexler continues (sorry, a long excerpt, but that’s important 🙂
The new Trump reciprocity tariffs are only a few days high, and there is naturally quite a bit of uncertainty about their precise range. I know some tariff invoices have been sent for the imported graphic novel, but there are also signs that it may be withdrawn due to the exemption of Section 1702(b)(3).
Since EO’s first release, I have studied all case law, regulatory material, custom decisions and comments, and I personally believe that graphic novels, comic books, comics and other comic-related publications should be exempted. Of course, this article is not legal advice, and you should certainly seek counsel’s advice for your specific situation. If any attorney, customs specialist or government official has different opinions on the scope of IEPA exemptions, I would love to hear from them.
Similarly, if anyone encounters a customs official or shipper who ends up trying to collect import comic tariffs, feel free to let me know – you can send it directly to me by email [email protected]. In view of the clear mention of the formulation of the enactment of exemptions in Section 1702(b)(3) and the First Amendment to the judicial interpretation, my significance is that the tariff imposition of imported comics raises similar constitutional questions, similar to the Landmark Paul Mavrides Paul Mavrides California sales tax on original art cases, which was my first direct contact with me in the 1990s, and my first direct contact with me.
Update: I spoke with a customs official about the exemption of graphic novels and reciprocal tariffs. They are not familiar with the details of the exemption (!), but agree that the analysis seems to be correct. The rule of law at work!
It is this update that is kicking. Most people don’t know about the exemption. These tariffs have been scrambled to such a hurry that no one is sure what happened. Last night, I actually talked to someone from the sales department of a well-known publisher who has printed many books overseas and they said the exemption surprised them. I’m sure they’re not alone.
Furthermore, my understanding is that when the product arrives at U.S. ports, tariffs are collected, and we have seen reports that shippers have not imposed shippers—they are not aware of the exemption.
FieldMouse Press founded GoFundMe to help them get the expected tariffs in the latest books, which will arrive from China soon. Understanding the waiver, they stopped fundraising, but there are still many problems:
While this is good news and may be good for the future of the publishing industry, our special circumstances are not yet clear. The printer we are working with Shanghai, China is operating because the tariffs are in place at present. Furthermore, this remains a turbulent situation as further U.S. tariffs and threats of global retaliatory actions remain a real possibility.
As of now, unfortunately, it is not certain whether we need the funds raised in Gofundme until the ship with the books arrives, which should be within three to four weeks. We have decided to temporarily stop further donations. We also freeze the money we collect until we know clearly whether we need it to get the books. If the printer agrees that we should not impose further tariffs and there is no actual tariff imposed at the border, then our current plan is to return this GoFundMe.
A very responsible way for the Field Department’s press to deal with the crisis, but that ship has not yet escaped from the woods.
Based on the noise we hear alone, there is a lot of chaos everywhere about the duty-free printing materials – and the situation with Canadian paper is also exempt from tariffs. A publisher, Canada’s Glacier Bay, just reached out his unstable hand.
We are currently evaluating the evolving trade situation and the impact of tariffs on current and future publication plans in the United States and international markets, and we will share more after less volatility in this case.
– Glacier Bay Books (@glacierbaybooks) April 9, 2025
While printing products are exempt from tariffs on China may be good news (Jeebus is hard to believe good news, right?), it doesn’t work with toys or board games that are also made in China. It seems inevitable that it will have a huge impact on our nerd pastime – the fact that if we were in a global economic crisis that was incredibly unstable wouldn’t kill them in the first place.
Most publishers who come with printing brokers work with shippers, from overseas printers to shelves at your local comic shop. It sounds like now that all these parties have a lot of conversations to understand what an incredibly complex situation is. We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Photo by Paolo Busella / Pexels
