Donald Trump’s newly forceful tariffs on Chinese imports will push the cost of Bibles imported to the US including his own personally signed version of the sacred book.
In the aftermath of the announcement of broad international tariffs on Wednesday, HarperCollins Christian Publishing’s CEO, the nation’s largest commercial Bible and Christian book publisher, said that it had been “all hands on deck” to gauge the effect. Bibles are usually produced on ultra-thin paper with specialized presses, a number of which are found in China including the one that has been said to print Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible.
Trump’s new policy slaps a 34% tariff on Chinese imports, on top of an existing 20% tariff, to 54%. Further sector-specific tariffs may follow.
While Trump has not disclosed where his signature Bibles are published or how much he earns from their sales, The Associated Press reported that close to 120,000 of the Bibles were exported from a print factory in Hangzhou, China, to the US last year. The imports, worth approximately $342,000 in total, cost less than $3 per Bible to import. The Trump Bible, however, sells for $59.99, and signed versions have sold for up to $1,000, potentially bringing in about $7 million in revenue.
It is unclear how these tariffs will impact future imports of Trump’s Bibles or other religious materials. The White House, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and the American Bible Society have not returned calls for comment.
As the tariffs kick in, religious publishers are preparing for supply chain disruptions and price hikes even on the president’s own spiritual trinkets.
