Good news!

Astoundingly, the U.S. Department of Commerce agreed in January to impose preliminary anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian uncoated groundwood paper based on this single complaint from one company. This paper is used by newspaper companies, such as the Johnson Newspaper Corp.

The combined tariffs ranged up to 32 percent, according to the group Free Community Papers of New York in Watkins Glen. They loaded U.S. printing and publishing firms with excessive costs and put numerous jobs at risk.

Companies across the northern regions of the United States depend on Canadian paper mills to supply them what they need. Opposition to the tariffs came not only from newspaper companies but also from domestic paper-producing firms, trade organizations and the forest industry.

Thankfully, legislators from across the country opposed the measure. U.S. Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro, and U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., strongly advocated that the tariffs be repealed.

The U.S. International Trade Commission put a halt to this unnecessary burden last month. Members of the commission ruled that American newsprint producers were not “materially injured or threatened” by Canadian imports.

This ruling will reduce expenses for those who use Canadian newsprint. It’s a victory for the newspaper industry, to be sure, as it will preserve jobs.

But it also sent a message to the Trump administration. Imposing tariffs must have a justifiable rationale, which this move lacked. Hurting many U.S. companies to placate one hedge fund is no reasonable way to govern.