Paper and Paper Products

Trade and Tariffs

This sector is defined by the World Trade Organization’s Uruguay Round sectoral agreement on paper. Paper and paper products accounted for 3.9 percent of total U.S industrial exports to Colombia in 2006, totaling $190 million. The top U.S. exports in this sector included bleached and unbleached kraftliner, chemical woodpulp, labels, and corrugated paper and paperboard. Colombian tariffs range between zero and 20 percent, with an average of 12.5 percent in 2006.

Colombian exports of paper and paper products to the United States totaled $58.7 million in 2006, or slightly less than 1 percent of Colombia’s total industrial exports to the United States. Top Colombian exports to the United States included books, sanitary paper items, wadding, and newspapers. The United States is a signatory of the Uruguay Round sectoral agreement and as a result imposes zero duties on these products on an MFN basis.

Tariff Elimination

Tariffs will be phased out according to five tariff elimination categories: immediate elimination, equal cuts over five years, unequal cuts over five years, equal cuts over seven years, and equal cuts over ten years. Tariff elimination under the unequal five-year staging category will proceed with a 10 percent tariff cut in years one and two, a 30 percent cut in year three, a 20 percent cut in year four, and the remaining 30 percent tariff cut in year five.

For paper products, 44 percent of U.S. industrial exports will receive duty-free treatment immediately upon implementation of the Agreement. Tariffs on another 8 percent of exports will be eliminated over five years, and 42 percent will be eliminated over seven years. Duties on the remaining 6 percent of U.S. exports will be eliminated over ten years.

International Trade Administration
Manufacturing and Services
Office of Trade Policy Analysis