ABFE at Children’s Institute 2025 A huge thank you to everyone at Children’s Institute who came to our “Know Your First Amendment Rights” session, donated to ABFE, or spoke to us about your advocacy priorities! The “Know Your First Amendment Rights” session discussed some of the fundamentals, common misunderstandings, and best practices related to booksellers’ First Amendment rights. An audio recording of this session will be available in the coming weeks. Rhode Island, New York Freedom to Read Acts Pass and Head to Governor Our allies tell us that the Rhode Island Freedom to Read Act and the New York Freedom to Read Act have passed their respective legislatures! This is great news for students, parents, librarians, educators, and authors, and will prevent book bans from taking hold in these states. Congratulations to the advocates, including booksellers, authors, librarians, and more, who spoke up in favor of these bills! US and China Create “Framework Agreement” for Tariffs According to media reports, the US and China have a “framework agreement” that will keep tariffs on Chinese imports at 55%. The 55% reflects the 30% tariffs the Trump Administration added this year, in addition to pre-existing duties totaling up to 25%. The 7.5% Section 301 tariffs imposed in 2018 remain in place for books (Bibles and other religious texts are exempt, and tariffs on children’s picture, drawing, or coloring books were previously suspended in 2019.) Given that the new 30% tariffs were imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), books (and other “informational materials”) are exempt. |
