Suspending Paper Book Sales to the US
A prudent approach to President Trump's tariffs
This post last updated on 5 May 2025
Due to the uncertainty surrounding President Trump’s tariffs, I have temporarily suspended sales of all paper books to the United States; I want to avoid unpleasant surprises and negative reviews. Americans can still buy and download e-books.
The shop remains open to the rest of the world.
In brief, I think it best to allow the dust to settle, and wait until systems are in place to deal with the new tariffs and restrictions.
According to one of the customs brokers I use, entire trucks have been turned back at the Canada-US border because they were carrying a single misdeclared shipment. I do not want one of my customers’ orders to be on that truck, and I do not want to face an onslaught of angry emails and posts:
“I don’t know why I had to pay an extra $5 for this book! It was delayed, and the seller should have paid the tariff for me!” — one star review by stinkbottom73
Fortunately digital goods appear to be exempt from US tariffs, at least for now, so American readers can still buy and download PDF copies of all my translations from ebooks.oboluspress.com
Typically more than half of my paperback sales are made to the United States, so I don’t know what kind of long-term effect these measures will have. It’s not good though, that’s for damned sure.
At the moment I am thinking about focussing on small format, limited editions that can be shipped overseas at a reasonable price. There is, after all, a Commonwealth full of potential readers. What’s old is new again.1
I say this tongue in cheek, but still…
Great map.
Sorry about the news, though, both for your sake and for my country's sake. Crazy policy.