After intense anxiety in the comics industry (and everywhere, but this site is about comics) about the effect of price increases due to tariffs, this week news broke that actually, published books are exempt from the 104% tariffs that were just set on goods imported from China.
The matter was actually discussed last week by CBLDF director Jeff Trexler, in a lengthy blogpost, Why Trump’s Tariffs Should Not Apply to Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comics: The Book Ban Connection (pt. 2). (You can read part 1 here.) Trexler is a lawyer, and it’s a very technical breakdown of why the pre-existing exemptions still apply:
However, IEEPA’s exemption for publications and other informational material regardless of format or medium was expressly created to exempt constitutionally protected free expression. As noted by the House Conference report on the 1994 revision of the original 1988 Act, Congress enacted Section 1702(b)(3) to prevent the President from imposing any restriction, “directly or indirectly,” on “the import or export of information that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” The inciting incident was President Reagan’s mid-1980s embargo of Cuba, which banned the unlicensed importation of printed material by mail or in person. The impact of this embargo went beyond political propaganda; the government seized novels, newspapers, magazines, and other material sent to ordinary people from their home country.
Sounds reasonable, but I’m sure you’ve already seen the flaw in this: the current president doesn’t believe in precedent, checks and balances, prior laws or anything but his own beliefs, really, and the Supreme Court hasn’t exactly been disagreeing with him. So the idea that pre-existing laws will be enforced seems like wishful thinking.
But, it is still the law for the moment. Trexler continues (sorry for the lengthy excerpt, but this is important:)
The new Trump reciprocal tariffs are just a few days old, and there is naturally a fair degree of uncertainty as to their precise scope. I understand that some tariff invoices have been sent for imported graphic novels, but there are also indications that these might be retracted due to the Section 1702(b)(3) exemption.
Based on all of the case law, regulatory material, customs decisions, and commentary that I have researched since the EO was first released, I am personally convinced that graphic novels, comic books, manga, and other comics-related publications should be exempt. Of course, this post is not legal advice, and you should certainly seek the advice of counsel with regard to your specific situation. If there are any attorneys, customs experts, or government officials who have a different perspective on the scope of the IEEPA exemption, I would love to hear from them.
Likewise, if anyone encounters customs officials or shippers who do end up trying to collect tariffs on imported comics, please feel free to let me know – you can email me directly at [email protected]. Given the express references to the First Amendment in the enactment and judicial interpretation of the publications exemption in Section 1702(b)(3), my sense is that the imposition of tariffs on imported comics raises constitutional concerns analogous to the landmark Paul Mavrides California sales tax on original art case back in the 1990s, which, as it happens, was my first direct contact with the CBLDF!
UPDATE: I spoke with a Customs official about graphic novels and the reciprocal tariff exemption. They weren’t yet familiar with the details of the exemption (!) but agreed that the analysis seemed right. The rule of law at work!
It’s that update that’s the kicker. Most people were unaware of the exemption. These tariffs have been enacted so hastily that no one is yet sure just what is going on. Last night I actually spoke with someone in the sales department of a prominent publisher that prints a lot of books overseas who said the exemption came as a surprise to them. I’m sure they are not alone.
Additionally, it’s my understanding that the tariffs are levied when products arrive at a US port, and we’ve seen reports that they are being applied by the shippers – who are also unaware of the exemption.
Fieldmouse Press started a GoFundMe to help them survive the tariffs they expected on a shipment of their latest season of books, which will soon be arriving a boat from China. Learning of the exemption, they have halted the fundraiser but many questions remain:
While this is excellent news and may bode well for the future of the publishing industry, our particular situation is less clear. The printer we are working with, located in Shanghai, China, is operating under the belief that, for now, the tariffs are very much in place. Moreover, this remains a volatile situation overall, as threats of further US tariffs and worldwide retaliatory actions remain a real possibility.
As of now, unfortunately, it is uncertain whether or not we will need the money raised in our GoFundMe until the boat with our books arrives, which should be in three to four weeks. We have decided to stop taking further donations for now. We are also freezing the money we have collected until we know definitively whether or not we will need it to get our books. If the printer agrees with us that no further tariff should be levied, and no tariffs are actually levied at the border, our current plan is to refund this GoFundMe.
This is an incredibly responsible way for Fieldmouse Press to respond to the crisis, but that boat isn’t out of the woods yet.
Just based on the rumblings we’re hearing, there is a lot of confusion everywhere about printed materials being exempt – as well as the situation with Canadian paper also being exempt from tariffs. One publisher, Canada’s Glacier Bay, just threw up its hands at the instability.
We are currently evaluating the impact of evolving trade conditions and US and international market tariffs on our current and future publishing plans, and will share more after this situation has become less volatile.
— Glacier Bay Books (@glacierbaybooks) April 9, 2025
While printed products exemption from tariffs on China may be good news (jeebus it’s hard to believe in good news, right?), it doesn’t apply to toys or board games, which are also made in China. A huge effect on our nerdy pastimes seems inevitable – if the fact that we’re in an incredibly unstable global economic crisis doesn’t kill them first.
Most publishers with with print brokers who in turn work with shippers to get the books from overseas printers to the shelves of your local comic shop. It sounds like right now there are a lot of conversations going on with all these parties to understand what is an incredibly complex situation. We’ll update this story as more information becomes available.
Photo by Paolo Busellato/Pexels
A coalition of impacted parties should be filing a complaint in federal court NOW—seeking a declaratory judgment that books, comics, etc., are exempt from tariffs [for the specific reasons your article covered]. And contemporaneously file an emergency motion for preliminary injunction pending resolution of the complaint—detail the irreparable harm — that the uncertainty and risk that wrongful application of tariffs by custom agents realistically could put out of business retailers and publishers, etc.
I would have filled this already but as a mere comics reader I don’t have standing to bring the suit or a client who does have standing.