Christian publishers can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now

 Christian publishers can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for now, when it comes to the effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Neither reciprocal tariffs on various nations nor tariffs specific to China apply to Bibles and other religious books, according to an April 24 email to Christianity Today from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP told CT it could not speak to the administration’s general tariff strategy regarding religious literature.

As the administration unrolled its responsive tariff plan in April, Christian publishers spent weeks juggling “a lot of questions” and “a lot of uncertainty,” said Jeff Crosby, president of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

The administration listed books, including Bibles, as exempt from the reciprocal tariffs Trump announced April 2 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

But tariffs on Chinese goods enacted under a separate statute to curb the flow of fentanyl and opioids had not clearly designated Bibles or other religious literature as exempt. CBP clarified that these tariffs also exclude the category of “Bibles, testaments, prayer books and other religious books.”

The question of whether China tariffs apply to Bibles is no small issue. China has specialized in Bible-printing technology for decades—by some counts, producing more than 75 percent of all new Bibles.

The country’s largest Bible-maker, Amity Printing Company, printed 17 million copies in the past 12 months. Amity operates in partnership with the United Bible Societies and says it has exported Bibles in 229 languages. A counter tallies the total number of Bibles to come across its printing lines over its 37-year history: 277 million as of this week.

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Bible publishers and distributors see a missional advantage to printing in China, since cheaper production costs make Bibles more affordable and more accessible.

“To import Bibles from a country other than China would require time, extensive quality tests, and higher prices incompatible with the high and consistent demand for Bibles in the United States,” the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said in a 2019 statement, the last time copies of Scripture from China escaped Trump’s tariffs.

The recent tariff threat falls during a period of high demand for Bibles; Bible sales overall were up 20 percent last year and up 30 percent among certain publishers.

Days after the announcement at the start of April, it was “all hands on deck” at HarperCollins Christian Publishing, president and chief executive Mark Schoenwald told The Wall Street Journal. HarperCollins publishes several translations, including the New International Version, the King James Version, and the New King James Version.

But as the weeks went on, Christian publishers continued to wait for clarity.

Tyndale House Publishers, which releases the New Living Translation and the One Year Bible, told CT through its spokesperson, “We are still waiting for Washington to sort through the many details involved.” Lifeway Christian Resources’ Devin Maddox said the Southern Baptist publishing arm, which offers the Christian Standard Bible, was “continuing to monitor this very fluid situation.”

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Despite the current good news for religious publishers, the climate of economic uncertainty lingers across the industry. Some experts have cautioned that the Trump administration sends mixed signals.

“Right now, there are not clear lines of distinction about who’s running what” portions of tariff policy in the administration “and who’s responsible for what,” said Stephen Kho, an international trade lawyer who served in the office of the US Trade Representative during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. “The decisions being made right now are not running through the normal interagency process. A lot of it is driven by what’s going on in the White House.”

This week, Trump softened his stance on Chinese tariffs overall and indicated the countries could negotiate a lower rate.

Tariffs on the paper used for printing books had also been a concern for publishers after Trump announced potential tariffs on wood-related products, including paper.

Of the $1.82 billion in uncoated paper imported to the US in 2023, 67 percent came from Canada, according to Publishers Weekly. But CBP told CT it is not aware of any tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the law cited by Trump in his executive order on wood products, that would target religious books.