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MONTREAL — The American government’s imposition of duties on exports of Canadian newsprint will only accelerate the transition from print to digital and threaten thousands of U.S. jobs, says North America’s largest newsprint producer.

“There are 600,000 workers in the newspaper publishing sector as well as the commercial printing sector who are at risk,” said Resolute Forest Products spokesman Seth Kursman.

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“And we know as a manufacturer of this product that if demand continues to go down over time this has an impact on our ability to operate facilities.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce slapped an overall preliminary countervailing tariff of 6.53 per cent on about 25 Canadian plants, mostly in Quebec and Ontario, following an investigation that began in August 2017.

Canada is the largest exporter of newsprint in the world, with a market dominated by Resolute Forest Products (TSX:RFP), Kruger and Catalyst Paper Corp. of British Columbia.